


The Koala and the Porcupine

by LuSilveira



Series: Bustash Heaven [3]
Category: Sing (2016)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-29
Updated: 2018-12-31
Packaged: 2019-09-30 01:39:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 24
Words: 59,719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17214599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LuSilveira/pseuds/LuSilveira
Summary: Sequel to my other story, Story Not Told. When Buster is shot, a big investigation ensues, bringing surprises to everyone involved. Meanwhile, Ash must hide their relationship, and deal with an obnoxious ex-boyfriend. Police story.





	1. Preface and Hard to Breathe

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Took us long but here it is! Story Not Told's sequel is finally up! This follows both SNT and The Best Valentine's Day. Now, I apologize for the preface. I just want to remind you all of what happened, since it has been such a long time, and since I convinced myself many of you could've forgotten where we left Story Not Told. XD anyways here is a quick preface and stick along for the ride! Many emotions to come! If you haven't read Story Not Told, I advise you to read it first. Just click my name ^^

****_PREFACE_

In _Story Not Told_ , we learned how Buster and Ash's relationship began, along with the battles they fought with both their pasts and themselves. Besides being shown this main arch, we had a few minor stories going on. Such as Ash's parents longing to see their daughter again and Buster's ex-(cheating) girlfriend Laura, who's looking forward to apologizing, going past Buster's struggles against his feelings for Ash, and the latter finding her old neighborhood friend Tara.

Another thing worth a mention is the fact Buster went to the other side of town to kick Lance's ass. Why is this worth a mention, you ask? Re-imagine the scene. Yeah. Welcome. Another thing worth remembering is Lance's insistence in getting Ash back. Also, if you re-read the last chapter, you'll see Lance and Becky broke up. Yeah. Cheaters don't deserve girlfriends.

In _The Best Valentines' Day_ , we are introduced to Munro, Laura's fiancé, an ex-cop who won't take crap from anyone. Also, if you go through it again, you'll see both him and Ash became friends. Keep that in mind. It's important.

Two other new characters we were introduced to were Ash's parents, Matthew and Marina, who, despite not fully approving Ash's way of life, acknowledge her talent and are now supportive of her. And one character we can't forget is Ash's little brother Adam. Seriously, don't you wanna hug him? (A/N: At your own risk; no matter how cute they look, I wouldn't hug a porcupine. XD) All of you can expect to see more from all these people, erm, animals in this brand new sequel!

Now that we took a ride through the tunnel of time, let's get to the actual story!

* * *

Buster rode his bike to the theatre, nervously whistling to himself to try and get his mind off of stuff. He allowed himself to think over the past few months' events. His theatre had been destroyed, rebuilt, and as a bonus was back to its former glory. It was refurbished, too. Instead of the usual dull stage, they now had a glowing squid tank.

He had held a singing contest that brought many unknown talents together, launching them into stardom. It was unfortunate, however, that most of them didn't want the attention that being a star brought. Minus Mike - as far as Buster knew, the diminutive crooner wanted all the attention he could get - but the mouse seemingly had left town, much to the cast's surprise.

As for Rosita and Johnny, both became mildly famous stars. They recorded a few albums. Yet thanks to their busy lifestyles - Rosita watching after 25 piglets and Johnny having an almost full-time job to try and pay his dad's bail - they were quickly forgotten by the media. Sure, those damn journalists did feed on their tragic life stories for a month, but that's pretty much as far as it went. People still know them, of course, and it's not a surprise if someone asks for an autograph.

Meena. Poor girl. Media was still feeding off of her presentation and many times made pressure for her to sing with famous artists. She didn't even wanna hear it - much to her grandfather's annoyance, Buster learned. A girl that quiet, shy... of course she wasn't going to like all the attention. Collaborating with Johnny and Rosita was the farthest she went, and even tho they were close friends now, she still had to be talked into it. She had bad media experiences _without_ having her name on an album. The elephant would much rather sing in church, to her friends, or in a small club she goes to, eventually.

And then, there was Ash. Buster froze for a moment thinking about this last one. She was his girlfriend, had been since the competition. She went on a tour scheduled to end yesterday. This means she will be back today, and, hopefully, they'll spend the entire afternoon together. He misses her so darn much. When given the opportunity, she jumped head-first in the tour. And thanks to Buster's introduction, she had a great heartbreak story to tell.

Their relationship is still a secret, of course. Mainly because Ash is a minor and Buster is over 40, but also because he doesn't want the attention that'd bring.

Ash spent three months away, performing in all Calatonia. The tour's final performance was in Newt York, though. A mess. But no matter how messy things got, Ash would always find time to skype with him and send him pictures of the places she saw. He was so proud of her. He wanted to go with her, but knew that was going to bring undesired attention. And he didn't want that.

Snapping out of his thoughts, he remembered the reason he was so nervous in the first place. Carefully balancing himself on the bike, the koala pulled a small box from his pocket. Inside of it, there was a ring. The same ring he'd use to propose to Ash tonight.

He clutched it tightly with his hand. Was he going forward with that? He had the ring and reservations for dinner tonight. But was proposing the best idea? He was much older than Ash. She would eventually get tired of putting up with an old guy, right?

Buster's thoughts and concerns were erased from his mind the second his bike hit a lamp post and he came crashing to the ground. He rubbed his sore head as he went into the theatre. His worries were ridiculous! She loved him, right? And he loved her back, right? Age was just a number here! He pulled out his phone, hesitating as soon as he unlocked the screen.

_It's not gonna be 'just a number' when I'm old and sick._

He hadn't thought about that. And the koala was walking so absentmindedly he missed three large figures standing on the staircase that led to the foyer.

But that, too, was ridiculous. Nothing guaranteed he was going to be sick when he grew old! And if he did, he'd tell her to leave him and enjoy her life, no damage done. That was it. Buster had a plan. Looking down at his theatre, he allowed himself to think about Ash. Her sweet smile, that could brighten even the darkest of days; her kisses, powerful enough to send real currents through his body; her laughter, capable of bringing happiness even to the most desolated animals.

And then suddenly, all doubt faded. He wanted to marry her. The rest, they'd work out together. His heart growing warm, he decided: today was the day.

Today, he was going to propose to Ash.

Decidedly, he reached into his pocket once again and pulled his phone out, quickly dialing her number. As soon as it began to ring, though, he started to consider proposing to her through the phone. Hell, he was getting nervous just inviting her to dinner! He'll surely be shaking like a leaf in autumn tonight. A noise behind him caught his attention and he quickly turned to look, but found nothing. The manager shrugged it off. It was probably his nervousness anyways.

_"Hey, Full Moon. What's up?"_

"Rockstar!" Buster greeted, trying his best to keep the cool tone in his voice. "Did you already board?"

_"Yeah. Just waiting for the takeoff."_

"Fly safe."

_"Wait, I'll get the pilot in line,"_ she joked.

"Hey, you could try to learn a thing or two to teach me," he replied, suggestively.

_"You can't drive a car, you think I'll let you near a plane?"_ She asked, letting out a soundly laugh. Teasing him was awesome. _"They're asking for the phones to be turned off. Gotta go, Moon."_

"No, no, wait!" Silence. "Rockstar?"

_"Still here. Sorry. A guy just fell off of a cart and it was funny as hell."_

"I bet." He kinda laughed the words out, immediately slapping himself. Clearing his throat, he got his mouth close to the speaker once again. "I was thinking that maybe we could go out tonight? I have reservations to-" Another noise. Buster quickly turned to look, once again finding nothing. " _Les Calmars_ at 8 o'clock."

_"Did you give them the right name or we'll have to convince the waiter you placed it under the wrong name?"_ She asked, teasingly.

"I did that only once because I was sleepy as hell, and you know it."

_"That was a funny day."_

"Is that a yes?"

She paused before replying. _"That's a yes, Full Moon."_

"Great! And also... I have something for you?" He let out an inaudible sigh, closing his eyes. "That wasn't supposed to come out as a question. I have something for you."

_"You didn't have to."_

"Yeah, but I wanted to."

Ash could practically hear her boyfriend's smile and she gladly matched it. _"You're the best. So, 8?"_

"I'll pick you up. Got Eddie's car again."

_"Does it come with a license?"_

"No, you drive."

Both shared a quick laugh. _"Love you, Moon."_

"Love you too, rockstar. Have a great flight, okay? I gotta arrange the set for this new play, and the sooner I get it done, the better."

_"Alright. See you."_

"See you. Love you."

When he laid the phone down, he fist bumped into the air. Yes! Now, he only had to work out what he was going to say. But that would have to wait, as the three large figures appeared right behind him. Before he could turn, he felt something hard crushing against his back, and he fell to the ground with a loud thump.

"Alright, Moon... give us the money and this is as much as you'll get hurt."

"Ow, f-… What money?"

Once again, the bear smacked him with a bat. "My money! Your share of what Mike took from us!"

"Mike's money? I didn't get part of it!" From the two blows, Buster was now facing the other direction. He heard the bear sigh and suddenly felt claws wrapping around him, lifting him so he'd face the leader bear.

"We can do this the easy way or the hard way."

"I don't have money."

"So I can destroy this theatre brick by brick and won't find a dime of my money?"

"Yes… you can," he gasped out when the bear tightened his grip on him.

"Then where is Mike?!"

"He left town! I don't know!"

One bear sidekick scoffed, getting closer to the koala and slapping him in the face. "Uh! Been his partner for Pete knows how long and doesn't know where he's hiding?!"

"Partner?" His eyes grew wide. "N-No, folks, that's wrong. I-I'm not his partner, I'm just the manager here!"

"Then what were you doing with his money?!"

"Mike never gave me any money, I swear!" The leader once again sent the bat crashing down his back. Buster winced in pain, putting his hand on his pocket to discretely call emergency. One bear beat him to it, kicking his phone to one of the aisles. He tried crawling over, but heard a metallic sound. He immediately froze, turning around to see a gun in the leader bear's hand.

The much bigger animal stood up straight, aiming at Buster. "Last chance. You can get out of here alive or dead."

"No, please! I have nothing!"

"Either you give us the money, or you give us Mike. Or this." He clicked the magazine to prove his point. Buster quickly nodded, struggling to get up.

"Back here. It's back here," he rushed the bears to the backstage. "That box, at the end of the corridor. There's not much, just the gain of my last show."

"After you." The leader motioned with his gun. Buster raised his hands and did as told. He was limping from his beating, it only made his plan harder. But as soon as he found a chance, he pulled a lever and a bag of sand came crashing down on one bear's head. And so he ran to the rehearsal rooms. A shot was fired, but he didn't look back. Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through his back, and he fell down the ground.

"There!" Buster's eyes widened. He tried dragging himself to under a box, but it was of no avail. "You think this is some sort of stupid game?!" He growled, before picking the koala up once again.

"You have the wrong person… I have $3,000 bucks at the ticket booth, take it. But don't kill me. Please." The bears exchanged looks.

"Dmitry, go check the ticket booth." Said bear ran up the main corridor to the entrance, whilst the boss kept Buster between his paws, squeezing him every once in a while. "You are very brave to do that-" he pointed at the bear who was just getting up. "To one of us. I'll give you that."

"Boss!" All eyes turned to look. Dmitri opened a box. "$2,570 here."

"Eh… not the value I was expecting, but it'll have to do. We're taking it. The rest, we'll get with Mike." He looked back at Buster, a smile on his face. "When we leave… are you going to run to a police station and report what happened today?"

"No..."

"How can I be sure?"

"I promise. I will not tell anyone. Just, please... let me go." The bear's expression softened for a moment. Lifting Buster high in the air, he sent him crashing down with all his might. The koala yelped at the pain it brought, only to let out a cry when the bear kicked him.

"I'm sorry, Moon..," once again, he pulled out his gun. "I have a strict no witnesses policy." Before Buster could say anything, he felt sharp pain run through his chest. He curled up into himself. The bear who had been hit by the sandbag was now fully awake and tried to reach Buster, but the leader stopped him. "Drop it. Look at him. He suffered enough, let the guy bleed to death. He'll hardly last another 20 minutes."

He sighed. "Alright."

"Boss, we gotta run!"

"Let's go!"

Buster's vision was growing blurrier by the minute. All he could make out at this point were rushed footsteps. Everything around him seemed to be spinning. He didn't know where he found strength, but turned to look at the ceiling. Even keeping his eyes open was hard at this point. He was writhing in pain, desperately trying to breathe. He touched his blood-soaked shirt, cringing at the sight. He was a bloody mess. Getting drowsy from the blood loss, the koala let his head rest against the cold floor. Pain once again washed over his body, making him curl into himself. And then he saw something, narrowing his eyes trying to make the form out. His guess had been correct. Half an arm away from him stood his cellphone.

He forcefully rubbed his eyes, as if that simple motion would make things stop spinning. Buster reached out for it, and after a few failed attempts managed to grab the device and dial a number.

_"911, what's your emergency?"_

Buster tried getting words out, but they were practically inaudible as another wave of pain rushed through his body. He clutched his chest tightly, desperately trying to stop the bleeding.

_"911, what's your emergency?"_

"Help... me..."

_"Sir, can you speak louder? I can't hear you."_

"P-Please… help me… shot..." He whispered, a tad bit louder. Buster could feel his energy leaving him, so he ceased to try. It hurt so very much. All he could do was hope that the responder had heard him, or would at least send cops over to check on him. Fidgeting a bit with his phone, he opened a photo of Ash, and, he could swear, it lessened the pain just for a moment. He sadly smiled, almost to himself, trying to hold the phone, but gave up when the last of his energy left him. He shut his eyes tight.

"I'm so sorry, love..," he muttered, finally allowing his eyes to snap shut.

 


	2. Girl Talk and Cold

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I still don't know how I did it. Seriously. A chapter in a day?! Me?! The same author who took 2 weeks to write the last chapter of Story Not Told?! Who would've thought! I'll try to give you all a chapter a day, yet, please understand if I don't. School is something heavy to bear. I hope you all like chapter two of The Koala and the Porcupine! If you like it, please leave me a review with your thoughts, it's very important and keeps me going! ;)

 

The flight had been quite pleasant, and definitely, it wasn't the type of flight Ash was used to. First, it wasn't a commercial flight. It was on some producer's private jet, and she got to spend the entire flight talking to the other amateur musicians who performed that night along with her. Secondly, she hardly ever got in a plane. She can vaguely remember one time that she and her parents flew to Ohio. And third, it was just so much fun.

She had been in dreamland for a couple hours when the producer shook her and told her they had arrived. Besides him, the rocker was the last person onboard. At least that tiny nap restored her energy for her date. After three months on the road, she really missed Buster, and could hardly wait to see him today. She said her goodbyes to the producer and went outside to recover her luggage.

"Dude, this was A+!"

"You said it! Besides all the hot chicks in the backstage."

"I'm still here, you know."

"Not talking about you, Miss Overreaction."

"Hey, everyone," Ash greeted, coming closer to the other three performers.

"Hey, sleeping beauty!"

"We thought you'd go back to NY with them!"

"Almost." A laugh was shared between the four before the pilot handed them their respective bags.

"Wanna come over to my place? We're gonna hang."

"Thanks, but... I have a date tonight."

"Who's the lucky guy?"

"It's a friend. We're just gonna hang, I miss him. I'm gonna call him and let him know I arrived." Ash reached into her pocket, only to find out there was no signal. "Great."

"Wanna use mine?" The other girl offered.

"Yes, please. I'll be super quick."

"No worries," she said, handing the phone out, Ash promptly taking it and dialing a number.

"Hello?" Ash took a moment to let it sink in. A woman's voice?

"Yeah, uh... can I talk to Buster, please?"

"Is this Ash?"

She paused before she replied. "Yeah." The voice on the other side sighed.

"Ash, it's Laura."

"Oh, hey! Long time no talk."

"Indeed, I hope you had a nice tour and travel back."

"I did. But uh... I don't mean to be rude, but what are you doing with Buster's phone?"

This time, Laura was the one who paused. "I have to break something out to you. Something you aren't ready to hear. They even tried calling your phone, but it was always out of area, and-"

"Wait, who are 'they'?"

"The crew. Johnny tried, Meena did... Rosita? Is that her name? She tried too, along with that other pig with an accent.

"Gunter. Laura, what's going on? Why were they trying to-"

"Like I said, I need to break something out to you, but first I need you to calm down."

Ash's voice grew distressed by the minute. "Laura, what happened?"

"The doctors tried to reach you too, you were the last one he called..."

"Laura! Drop it! He who, what happened to Buster, where is him?!" Silence. "Laura?"

"Buster is in a surgery room, a .40 bullet lodged in his chest, along with a broken leg and some other injuries."

"A-are we talking about the same Buster? B-because-"

"Ash." The rocker was immediately silenced by the serious air in the woman's voice.

"Who? W-who would-" she half-asked, trying her best to hold her tears back.

"The cops said it was bears, because of the large claw marks. Possibly a robbery that went wrong, they stole all earnings from the last show."

"Why did they shoot him?"

"He reacted. Altho, apparently, he got hurt before reacting, so the cops aren't discarding an execution."

"W-what?"

"Whoever shot him, wanted him to suffer. They could've shot him in the head, why the chest? His lungs would eventually get filled with blood and he'd suffocate. It's all very recent. Everyone's working with 'what ifs'. What if it was an execution, who would do it? Buster doesn't have enemies that'd kill him, not at first sight at least. What if it was just a robbery gone wrong, what if it was a sadistic maniac who did it just because and then got the money because it was an amount too great to leave behind? No one knows. We just know one thing: Buster almost died. He's almost out of surgery, the doctors are talking about a coma..."

By the time Laura was done, Ash was kneeling on the ground. It was like the world stopped. She didn't even bother to hide her teary voice. "Which hospital..?"

"We're in St. Lemur. Need a ride?"

"No," she replied, wiping her nose. "There's a driver here, I'll ask him to drop me there."

"Alright. I'll wait for you."

Ash hung up, giving herself a moment to let all this new info sink in, before wiping her eyes and turning back to the other performer.

"You alright?"

"Yeah. Sorry about the long call."

"No worries."

"Girls, come on!" The other two yelled, startling them. Turning back, they saw the driver was holding the door open for them, so, quickly, they climbed in.

"Where are you all heading?"

"Corner of Dimsdale with Lemmington, the four of us."

"Not me. I'm headed for..," she took a deep breath. "St. Lemur hospital." Her performer friend looked at her, but said nothing.

The look on Ash's face said everything.

* * *

Outside the hospital, Laura sat on a bench, a couple of hot cocoa cups by her side. It was freezing today, and, as a bonus, it was a nice way to greet Ash. She didn't know what to expect out of the porcupine. When a car pulled over, she merely tilted her head to look, standing up immediately when she recognized Ash. The girl quickly climbed out of the car, dragging two bags along with her. Dropping them, she hugged the woman tightly, Laura returning it the best she could.

"He's just out of surgery, in a comatose state, like I told you." Ash held just a bit tighter onto the woman's shirt. "I got you some hot chocolate. It's freezing here today."

"Thanks, Laura," she said, taking one cup and sipping on it.

"Johnny and Rosita left. We have Meena, Gunter, and Munro up there, they all miss you."

"I miss them too," she said, sipping on her cocoa once again. "How are things for you and Munro? Is the wedding planned?"

Laura moved over, taking the other cup of cocoa, and drinking from it. "Next Spring."

"Congrats."

"Thank you. Listen... before we go up there-"

"Can we stay here for a little? Please? I don't... I don't wanna..," she was struggling to get the words out when the woman gently shushed her.

"We can. Come sit with me." Both females took a seat at the bench. "Tell me, how was the tour?"

"It was nice. Better than I expected."

"That's good, glad you had fun. I caught the live yesterday, you were great. B- well... Buster called me and Munro and told us where it was going to air so we wouldn't miss it."

"Sounds Buster-ish... how's your job at the bar and the restaurant going?"

"Going fine. I think I met your parents. A few nights ago, this porcupine couple walked in and couldn't stop talking about you."

"They weren't a burden, were they?" Ash asked, worried.

"They left a nice tip." The two of them laughed, but the joyous noise was quickly replaced by silence.

"Let's go."

"You ready?"

"Yeah. I mean... I gotta face it sooner or later, right?"

"Before we go, everyone up there saw him. Atmosphere is pretty heavy."

"I expected that."

"Need help with the bags?"

"I'm fine. Thanks, Laura," Ash said, picking up the two cases and following the koala inside.

Ash was growing more and more anxious by the minute. She didn't know what to expect. Obviously, Buster was hurt. But what was that like? Did it change something exterior, or was it all hidden under his fur? What does a bullet wound look like, and how big is it? Does he just look asleep? The hospital was cold and somber, every step she took felt heavy, and it didn't help her anxious state.

Room 1205, 12th floor, that was the destination. Outside of it, three figures stood: Gunter, Meena, and Munro. Meena was seemingly catatonic. Gunter shot her a sad look - much to her amazement; she didn't think the otherwise energetic pig was capable of expressing any other emotion besides pure joy - when she passed, whilst Munro straightened up, rigid, hands behind his back. Prostrated against the wall, he gave her a sympathetic smile.

"Hey, Munro."

"Ash." The ex-cop greeted, nodding his head.

"Is there anything too..," she gulped, " _apparent_?"

He looked up in thought, pondering over his answer. "Most is covered by the blanket," he finally said, holding the door open. "Bed is up high because the doctor is a kangaroo. Use the chair."

"Thank you," Ash said, walking ahead. She, however, didn't miss the moment Munro and Laura exchanged a quick kiss.

Once inside, she turned to the woman, an expectant look on her face.

"There are no words to describe."

Ash climbed up the chair, letting her bags fall to the ground below it. Her eyes closed all along. She found the metal bars surrounding the bed quite quickly, holding tight onto them when she did. Then, she slowly opened her eyes. And no, she was not ready to see what she saw.

Buster would've looked asleep, if it wasn't for the wires connected to him. And the tubes on his mouth and nose. And the needle on his arm. And the heart monitor beeping. Ash's jaw dropped, a pained expression carved on her face. Slowly, and carefully, she reached her hand out to gently caress Buster's cheek. "Oh my god... Moon..." Tears prickled her eyes, but this time she didn't even bother to hold them back. She gently took his hand, cupping it between her own. "What did they do to you..?" She whispered, almost inaudibly, running a hand through his tuft of hair.

"Ash?"

The rocker didn't reply. Instead, she rested her head on the bed, letting sobs escape her and soak the sheets.

Laura didn't even think twice; climbing the chair with dexterity and speed she hadn't seen since her 20s, she held the girl tightly in her arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I hope you all liked it! If you do, please leave me your thoughts! I'd love to hear from you ;)


	3. New Day and New Old Cop

 

The half-shut blinds allowed little to no light through them, but from the faint rays that entered the room, Ash could tell it was past midday. She opened her eyes slowly, letting her surroundings sink in. A hospital room.

Well, crap, it hadn't been a bad dream.

One of her hands was resting on Buster's bandaged chest whilst the other was serving as a pillow to herself. Sometime in the night, she had climbed onto the hospital bed and rested down by his side. Her eyes fell to his bandages. There was some blood staining it.

"Morning, babe..," she said, gently kissing his cheek.

"Morning!" A voice replied. She let out a small scream and immediately covered her mouth. The voice laughed. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you or ruin the mood up there."

"Munro?"

"In the flesh, fur, and uniform! Check this out." Ash peeked out of the bed, taking a good look at the koala that was on the ground. He had a fully black military uniform on and a badge pinned on his belt. He saluted her. "Captain Munro Belleville of the LASPOD at your service, ma'am."

"LASPOD?"

"Short for Los Antelopes Special Police Operations Division. I got permission to work in this particular case as long as I work with this officer, probably to teach him." He let out a soundly laugh.

"Is this a Special Forces case?"

"Not federal. I'm just going to help police investigate and they gave me my old rank back."

"Are you investigating something here?"

"Keeping guard, just in the case the bastard that did this decides to come back. Waiting for my partner."

"Oh. Alright. Just a small thing, is this... with the bandages, is it normal?"

"What is?"

"Come up here."

He sighed. "Ash, I'm about three times your age. Is it really neces-"

"Is it normal that blood soaks right through them?"

"A lot?" She shrugged. "Wait." He took distance and jumped onto the chair, dusting his hands off once he stood up.

"Now that is super cool." Munro shot her a small approving grin, turning to Buster almost immediately and inspecting the bandages.

"Give me a quill." Ash looked at him worriedly. "Don't worry, I've done this thousands of times." She pulled a quill from her back, a surprised look on her face when the koala ripped the bandage open with one single move. "Thank you. It's alright if you wanna turn away."

"Is it that bad?"

"No. It's sad."

"Can't be worse than the general image..." He nodded at her and pulled the bandages off, revealing Buster's chest. Aside from the reddish fur and a scar almost centralized on his chest, there was nothing else.

"He's been using this one since the surgery, I believe. That's probably why it's so dirty. I'll get someone to change this on my way out," he concluded, but before he could climb down the chair, he felt a tug on his arm.

"This is the scar from the bullet, right?" She asked, pointing at it.

"Yes."

"And the heart is..." You could hear pure fear in her voice. Munro turned to her, looking straight into her eyes.

"Laura wasn't joking when she said he almost died. If this bullet had hit two inches closer, he would've died instantly."

"M-Munro, is this coma a-"

"He's stable. He'll make it."

"How do you know that?! He could be dead already and not even have made it here!"

He lifted his hand, calmly shushing her. "But he did not. He made it. I've seen tougher guys die from less." He pointed to Buster. "Not this guy. He's a fighter. He made it this far. Can he die? Obviously, just like anyone alive! But he's stubborn, doctor's words. He's not going anywhere he doesn't want to."

"Excuse me, Belleville?" The two animals in the room turned to look.

The door opened fully to reveal a male otter, who saluted. "Officer Frisk of Los Antelopes Police Department."

"At ease, officer."

"I was assigned to work with you," he said, pulling a rifle from his back, and startling both the koala and the porcupine.

"Did you just- do you wanna cause panic, buddy?!"

"W-well, if someone comes in..."

"If the 17 rounds of your Glock don't do it, I don't see how the 90 from that beauty are gonna help you. Besides, they are gonna go through these walls and kill whatever's behind them, criminal or not. Never bring a gun inside of a hospital, unless there _is_ already a gunned maniac inside of it. Get it, Officer?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Now go get rid of that."

"Yes, sir!" Frisk saluted once more before leaving.

"Wow... been back one day, and it's already rubbing it off of me!" He let out an audible laugh, before turning to the porcupine. His laugh immediately died down. She looked desolated, looking down at her companion. Munro cleared his throat, coming a tad bit closer to her. "Your friends will arrive soon, I gotta go somewhere. Are you gonna be okay on your own?"

She nodded. "Yeah. I'm alright."

"Frisk is staying here with you. If there's anything you need, ask him. Here." He handed her Buster's phone. "Laura's number is there, mine too. Anything you need, just give us a call. I'll ask a nurse to clean up these bandages on my way out."

"Thank you."

"And overall... try to cheer up a little. He's alive. And there's a little voice inside my head that says everything is gonna be alright." She turned to him, a faint smile on her face. At least she tried. Matching her smile, he patted her on the shoulder and hopped off of the large chair. Shortly after, Officer Frisk came back in, but restrained himself to bowing his head at her, not saying anything. He moved over to a visitor couch and sat there, in guard.

Johnny soon walked in, one cup of coffee in each of his large hands, and flashed her a small smile.

"'Ey, Ash."

"Hey."

"Any news here?"

"No... the doctor hasn't come by yet. Thanks," she said when he handed her one of the cups.

"Eh, it's nothing. Black, right? Because I can get some cream and sugar."

She took a long sip of the drink. "Black's fine. And strong."

The gorilla let out a nervous laugh. "Heh. That's right."

"What about your dad? How's he doing?" Johnny shifted uncomfortably in his chair at the question, so she raised her hand. "Hey, it's okay. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"No, it's fine," he said, and she could swear his accent was just a bit thicker. "We're waiting for the judge to decide if he gets paroled or not."

"Really?! Johnny, that's great!" She said, an enthusiastic tone in her voice.

"Yeah, theoretically." He said. Her smile immediately faltered as she shot him an inquisitive look. "There's too many accusations, gang formation, bank robbery, mineral robbery, money laundering, escaping prison, destruction of public patrimony... the promoter said at least ten accusations. It's gonna be super hard to put him on parole. So I got this uh... lawyer, Seal Goodman. He's very expensive, but everybody's saying he's the only one who can do it."

"Hey, if you need money-"

"No. I can do it. Eventually."

"Alright. If you change your mind... I don't have much, but I can help." Johnny gave her a tired smile before turning to Buster once again.

And then the maid walked in to change the bandages.

* * *

Police lights reached the car before the theatre did. As he was not in an official car, he parked a few meters away from the police vehicles, and slowly approached the yellow stripes closing the street.

"Sir, restricted area, I'm gonna have to ask you to leave," a rhino said, motioning for him to stand back.

"Captain Munro Belleville, LASPOD," he replied, flashing his badge. "I'm here to check out the crime scene." The rhino held the door open, allowing him to pass. "Thank you, Officer."

Once inside, he pulled a small radio frequency detector from his pocket and started going around, waving it in the air so he wouldn't miss a current. From the previous times he had visited the theatre, he had never seen a camera, but refused to believe they didn't _exist_. Nothing. Not on the way upstairs. Coming down again, he walked into the ticket booth. The detector went off. Looking up, he saw the distinctive shape of a surveillance camera.

Munro wrote the location of the camera in a small notepad on his pocket as he walked inside the theatre, going down the many rows of seats. There were cops investigating the scene and he did his best not to disturb them. His detector only beeped in one of the aisles, and there he noted the presence of another hidden camera. Guessing from its position, it would record both the stage and the stairs to the office. Whoever did that to Buster, he figured, would be shown in those cameras. He still walked around for another hour, sticking the detector into every hole and room he found.

Going upstairs, he found both Miss Crawly's and Buster's offices. He couldn't help but compare them: Buster's messed up office surely contrasted with Miss Crawly's tidy up one. However, in both offices, there were no computers. At all.

He went inside Buster's office once again. At first sight, there was nothing. He went through the drawers, finding scripts, books, handwritings, pictures. Nothing you could possibly connect a camera to. He dug a bit deeper into the drawers of his desk, he found a picture of the other koala... with Laura. The two of them sharing a kiss. A polaroid picture. Both looked really young, hardly one or two years older than Ash. A bit deeper, a picture of the man with his current girlfriend. His arm across her shoulder, keeping her close to him. She planting a kiss on his cheek.

Munro smiled at the picture. They made a nice couple, nicer looking than when he was with Laura. Or maybe, he figured, he was just a tad bit jealous of her. Probably both.

He tossed the pictures back in the drawer, closing it carefully, then once again looking inside another drawer. And another. And a large cabinet. Nothing. There was also nothing hid under the tables, or downstairs, or on the tiled floor. Yeah, he checked. Buster wouldn't hide anything unless it was absolutely compromising, which the cameras were not. He scratched his head as he gave the office another quick look before going to the door.

"Two working cameras... transmitting to nowhere?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I hope you enjoyed it! And if you do, please leave me your thoughts! ;)


	4. Conversations and Informant

_Day 2_

 

"Now, blood shouldn't soak right through it. If it does, press the emergency button, right there," a baboon nurse said, pointing to a wall. "But so far, nothing to worry about."

"Except for the fact that... he's in a coma. Right?"

"He's stable, ma'am. He should be fine, but if you wanna be sure, I can get the doctor."

"It won't be necessary." Johnny intervened. "This is, uh, this is... the shock of the entire thing, it was so sudden."

"I understand. Let me know if you need to talk to someone, there are councilors specialized in traumas such as the ones brought by this."

"If we need to, I'll let you know. Thanks, Ms..." the gorilla squinted his eyes to look at her name tag. "Parker. Thank you."

The baboon nodded before directing herself to the door. "I'm at the reception if you need me."

And so Johnny looked down at Ash, in concern. He had never seen the strong rocker so battled or so upset over something, not even back at her breakup. She was leaning against him, fidgeting idly with a phone.

"Ash, he's gonna be alright."

"Didn't you see the bullet scar? If it had hit any closer to his heart, he would've..," she sniffled, "h-he would've..." She motioned with her hands a little and Johnny immediately brought her closer.

"The doctors said it is merely temporary, they said it yesterday," he stated in a soothing voice.

"Did you, and Meena and Gunter hear the same thing? Because Gunter looks pretty helpless and Meena is looking down at Buster with those dead eyes." Both turned to look at the elephant, who, when aware of their gazes, covered her face with her ears. Or tried.

"W-what?"

"So there. See?" Ash said, pointing at her. "I know you're trying to cheer us up, but this was too serious and recent. It still is so very recent. It won't work, not meaning to be rude."

"Maybe the three of you should go home," Rosita suggested, "being here is clearly hurting the three of you, and that's ok. Mr Moon would understand. Ash, you got here late yesterday and was the first one here today. So am I correct to assume you slept here?"

She paused before replying. "Yes."

"You just came back from a tour. It's tiring, you should be resting, not being in some hospital room."

"I'm staying until he wakes up."

"The skies know how long it might take."

"Got all the time in the world, Rosita," Ash said, dismissively.

The pig mom sighed, turning her attention to the elephant in the room. "Meena?"

"My mom doesn't want me to stay here until late. I'm leaving soon, I just came by to maybe have lunch with you all and bring you cookies."

"Ash, did you eat?"

"Not hungry."

"You gotta eat something."

"You should, rockstar," Gunter piped up. The rocker flinched at the given nickname, holding onto Johnny's jacket tighter. The pig seemed just a tad bit more enthusiastic when he shoved a couple of cookies into his mouth. "These are super good!"

"I bet. Maybe later."

"Alright. Johnny?"

"I'm actually leaving now, Rosita. Maybe some other time we can have lunch together."

"You sure? We're not asking you to leave," Ash stated, matter-of-factly, but the gorilla merely shook his head.

"I gotta. I'm working two shifts to pay for the lawyer, I'm already late."

So the cast bid their goodbyes and the kid left.

"Gunter?"

"Ja?"

"How about the dance studio?"

"No rehearsals today."

"Anyone heard of Eddie?" Ash asked.

"He came here yesterday but broke down crying in five minutes. He said he will drop by eventually, asked us to call him when he wakes up." Rosita explained.

"No wonder. They've been knowing each other since college, it's gotta be hard on him."

"Who told you that?"

"Full- Mr Moon." She quickly corrected herself, but it didn't go unnoticed by her theatre friends, who laughed at what she was going to say.

"Full Moon. The poor thing!"

"Hey, before me, no one teased him about it!" Ash said, laughing a little. "Not the only way I mock his name, tho. The other day we were at his place and I called him 'Buster Sun'. It was funny." The cast laughed, in exception of Rosita.

_What the hell was she doing down at his place?_

Not long after, Meena and Gunter left, leaving the pig mom alone with the porcupine. Frisk was now out of the room, keeping guard at the door. The two animals inside were sitting on the couch, the younger one leaning against the older, half-asleep. Rosita checked on her watch, deciding it was time to go, as her kids would be home any time now and she still had to make dinner. So carefully, she pushed the porcupine away, resting her on the couch, before directing herself towards the bathroom. Her hand had barely reached the knob when a koala ran into the room, not even bothering to greet her. Actually, she wasn't sure if he had seen her. So she leaned against the door, watching carefully his interaction with the porcupine.

"Ash, Ash, you with me?"

She yawned. "What do you want?"

"I found cameras at the theatre, working cameras. Two cameras, to be precise. But there are no computers or even hidden devices. Do you know where Buster keeps the images?"

He was going to shake the porcupine if Frisk hadn't opened the door, popping his head in. "Boss, my shift's over. Anything else you need before I go?"

"No, not really. See you tomorrow, Frisk." Munro turned to Ash once again. "So?" No answer. So he gently smacked her face, leaning closer to whisper in her ear. "It's for Buster, Ash, it's for your boyfriend..."

She jolted, half-awake. "W-what is?"

"He had cameras. Where are the images?"

"At his laptop..." she slurred out, so he squeezed her hands.

"And where is it?"

"My..." she yawned. "Place."

"Where is it?"

"308 Negra Arroyo Lane."

"Sure? Say it again."

"308, Negra Arroyo Lane," she said, turning to the other side.

"Can I go inside and retrieve it?"

"Yeah... I left my keys with Buster."

Munro quickly moved away, looking inside the bag with Buster's belongings. He pulled out a huge set of keys but didn't even mind it. There was one with a guitar adorn to it. "Got it! Thank you, now have a good night!" Quicker than he had arrived, he left.

Rosita still had her hand at the doorknob, not turning it, just looking at the space the koala previously occupied, and up at Buster. Had she heard him right?

_Boyfriend?_

* * *

By the time he arrived, the yellow car was already waiting for him. So he parked, opened the door, checked his surroundings, and went over to the car. When the door opened, he was immediately pulled in, and a bag fell on his lap. He opened it to reveal several hundreds of dollars. Looking up, he smiled broadly at the source of the money.

"Now we're talking!"

"Cut the crap, Frisk. What do they know?"

"They know it was a bear from the town. Like, any bear from the town."

"The crew?"

"Hasn't mentioned you."

"The koala?"

"Which one?"

"The one who should be dead now."

"Not awake. And even if he was, all he'd be able to say is that he was attacked by bears."

"The other one?"

"He knows nothing. He's dumber than a doornail," he said, letting out a soundly laugh.

"Wolinski said he was at the theatre today."

"He found cameras, but no images. For some reason, Moon doesn't keep them visible to the naked eye."

"Do I have to worry about him?"

"He's inoffensive. Twenty years of service and he still believes the law."

"Mike?"

"Nothing. Got many precincts after him."

"Good. Now get the hell outta my car!" Another bear opened the door for him, so he jumped out of the car. It took off right afterward. A cloud of dust behind it.

Looking around, he once again checked his surroundings before going back to his car and leaving.

* * *

Munro pulled over in front of Ash's building, retrieving the keys he had gotten from the girl from his pocket. He directed himself to the door, checking the apartment listing for her house, and when he found it, he immediately got inside the place. The building was filled with all luck of low-lives of all sorts, ranging from lunatics to beggars, but not as bad as the rest of the street. He couldn't help but wonder why the porcupine still lived there. He made a mental note to ask her later.

It took him a good pull at the knob to get it to turn. As if on enemy territory, he entered carefully, flashlight in one hand and gun in the other, checking every single room before concluding the place was clear. It didn't take him long to find the laptop, and when he did, he brought it to the living room, settling down on the couch and opening it.

The device was resting on the center table when he leaned over it, looking for the camera application. Wasn't that hard. He clicked it, and the first page opened with the images of five cameras, all showing the theatre. Mostly, the stage. Munro's eyes went wide. How did he miss _three_ cameras? He frowned at himself at the same time he lightly smiled at the cameras' positions. He had no doubt: one of them had caught the animal, or animals, who had harmed Buster.

And it would've caught if the app hadn't asked for a password when he clicked the past recordings' button. Wonderful. Just what he needed. He tried as many things as he could, ranging from the easy 'Buster's full name' and '1234' to the complicated 'full name followed by the same numbers'. Nothing. A message popped on the screen.

"'Forgot your password? First love year is your reminder.' What... in... the... world..." He even tried those exact three words, just to make sure, but to no avail. He shut his eyes tightly, resting his forehead on the mousepad. "Moon... why do you gotta make this so hard?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: This is it, folks, chapter 4 is here! Stay tuned for chapter 5, and if you like my work, please drop me a review!


	5. Stability and Age

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: After two weeks... I RISE! So, first off, I apologize for the delay. I came down with a terrible sinusitis that kept me away from school and away from a pencil and a pen for a week. Then, there's the whole moving situation, that kept me away for another week. Got internet installed at the new place last Thursday. Another thing, terribly sorry for the small chapter. I was just really sick when I wrote this one and was really trying. Still, I hope you enjoy it nonetheless. I have other two chapters written, the other is too long and the third is a normal size. XD

****The continuous beeping of the heart monitor was now a tad bit too familiar to Ash, after three days staying at the hospital. More familiar than she'd like, actually. On the very first day, it had beeped pretty irregularly. Only now, that it was stabilized, she noticed how irregular it had been. Buster's normal heart frequency was between 75 and 85, but she had seen it at 100, then 110.

It freaked her out a little, she couldn't lie. Her paternal grandfather had died from a heart attack, so she couldn't help but believe Buster was undergoing one too. And seriously, can you blame her? So she didn't leave his side until tiredness washed over her, making her move somewhere more comfortable to sleep. In that case, the visitor couch. She still laid there, but now had a blanket resting above her.

She slowly pushed it away, stretching out and rubbing the sleep away from her eyes. There was a nurse checking on the bed, changing a bag of some liquid that was attached to Buster.

"Morning..."

"Oh! Good morning, miss!" The nurse greeted, cheerfully. "Did you just wake up?"

_No, I was just pretending._ "Yeah."

"Good! There is someone at the reception waiting to see you. I told her she could wait in here, but she just refused! Guess she didn't want to wake you up."

"Who's she?"

"Oh, it's a pig! She identified herself as 'Rosita'. You know her?"

"Yeah, I do," she sighs out, looking up at the much taller nurse. "How's he?"

"Oh, this one is doing pretty well! He's fully stable, now."

"What does that mean?"

"It means he's out of a danger zone. His heart is no longer overworking, he's responding well to the lung draining machine, soon he'll be putting his own lungs back to use!"

_Thank Pete._ "How long until he wakes up?"

The nurse sighs. "No one can tell for sure. He got in a comatose state due to shock... his left lung got fueled up to its potential with blood, making his breathing and heartbeat increase. So his brain kinda shut him down to calm his breathing and heart and avoid it to get worse. It might be a while until it realizes it's no longer dangerous to wake up. Anyways, he won't wake up until the lung is fully drained."

"And how long until that?"

"Another day, my best guess. It could be worse," she says, taking a seat by the porcupine, allowing her to lean into her.

"I know..."

"But don't you worry, he's gonna be alright."

Ash clings onto the woman's uniform. "Are you sure..?"

"Yeah, I am. Some people don't make it this far. Don't know if you believe it or not, but I'll say it anyways... he's gotta big purpose to fulfill in his life, because good heaven, he fought..."

"I wish he was awake..," the rocker said, sniffling.

"I know you do. They all do. It'll be soon." Ash merely nods, a weak smile on her face. "Are you his adoptive daughter?"

"No, girl-" she bites down her lip just in time. _No one is supposed to find out._ "Colleague. I performed in his theatre a while back."

"One of the chosen few, I remember the news," the nurse chuckles out. "Well, he's lucky to have a colleague like yourself. Your concern is worth a daughter's or even a wife's! You've been staying here since day one."

"Yeah, I just wanna make sure he's alright... I read somewhere that staying by someone sick can help them recover faster."

"That's true, you know. You're being a big help. Just... don't forget to care for yourself. There are bags under your eyes. Are you eating and sleeping and showering regularly?"

"Not really."

"You should go home."

She shakes her head. "When he's awake."

"Then, do those things at the hospital, or nearby. It won't help if you fall ill or if you're bearing exhaustion. Okay?" Ash nods. "Good. Can I tell that woman to come in?"

"Yes, please." She sits up, straightening her skirt and trying to make herself look more presentable. When she stretches, her whole body protests. God, had it ached all this time? She smiles the best she can when the door opens, and Rosita matches it.

"Morning."

"Hey..."

"How's everything, dear..?" The pig mom asks, concernedly.

"I'm tired. This couch is sh-" she cuts the word short when the woman stares at her. "Trash. This couch is trash."

Rosita chuckles, taking a seat by the teen's side. "I bet. It's uncomfortable to sit on, who will say sleep on. My house is open if you wanna spend a night."

"I'm good," Ash dismisses.

The pig sighs. "Ash, you look sick."

"I'm just tired. Don't worry, I'm gonna go somewhere today to get myself a decent meal. Something that doesn't come in a package."

"At least that. If you want, I can bring you food from home, too."

She chuckles weakly before hugging her. "Thanks, Rosita, but you don't have to."

"It's no problem. If you want, just ask," Rosita says, with a smile, hugging the porcupine the best she can. However, in a fraction of a second, her eyebrows furrow into a frown. The teenager looks up at her. "We gotta talk about something."

Ash breaks the embrace, surprised by the serious tone of the woman's voice. "Yeah, what's up?"

Rosita sighs at first. How is she going to approach this? She looks up in thought, pondering over her words before speaking. "Last night... when you were a bit out of it because you were so sleepy, Munro came in here."

"Oh yeah?"

"And got the keys to your apartment."

"That's alright."

"I figured... the problem is what he said." Ash sighs. She did _not_ like where this was heading. "I might've heard him wrong... I wanted to believe I had heard him wrong. I was up late trying to find another word he might've said in replacement for the one I heard, something that would fit the phrase, but I found none."

Ash sighs, shutting her eyes tightly. "And..?"

"And... he referred to Buster as your boyfriend."

_Stupid Munro._

"And judging by your face, it's true."

_Stupid, idiot Munro._

"Ash?" She sighs out. "Is it true?"

The teen pauses before nodding. "Yeah, it is."

"How long? Did it start at the contest?"

"Yeah, it did... not long after I broke up with Lance. I called him over and we kissed."

"Who kissed who?"

"Rosita, don't start..."

"Ash, how many years is he older than you? Thirty? He's using you!"

"Twenty-five!"

"Doesn't change! God, that makes him... over forty! Ash, this is a _massive_ gap."

"So what?! It doesn't bother me! It bothers him more than it bothers me!"

"Ash, you don't know life like I do... I know it may seem he loves you, but all he wants is some young blood in his life..."

Ash tears up, not even bothering to hide the teary tone in her voice. " _Not_ Buster," she says, defiantly.

"What makes him different, Ash? He's an old man dating a kid..."

"Forty-two is not old and I'm not a kid anymore."

"You're not even legal! He can go to jail for this!"

"I'm a couple months away from being legal... and I know what I want. _Who_ I want," she emphasizes. "You don't know the details of our relationship, you're just judging us because of his age."

"Yeah? Like which details?"

"Like how he helped me back at the breakup. Like how he believed in me, saying repeatedly I could do anything. Like how the kissing feels. It's loving, and warm, and sweet, and there is no way in hell he can fake that part."

"You can have all that with someone your age!"

"I don't want someone younger."

Rosita sighs, the gears in her brain turning. "What if... have you ever thought that maybe he never meant it when he said he loved you?"

"Ha! For eight months?!"

"Some guys do it for years," she shrugs. "Think about Lance."

"Buster isn't Lance. And Lance loved me at the start, too."

"How do you know?! He could have used you all along."

Ash laughs sarcastically. "Then, you'll be happy to know... he was close to my age. Definitely much closer than Buster. Guess bad boyfriends come in any ages... Lance has _proven_ to be a bad boyfriend despite being close to my age. Buster hasn't. At least not yet. Anyone any age can turn abusive, and if Buster does, I'm leaving him as well."

"It's not about that, Ash..."

"Yeah, I know. It's about age. It's about how he is using me just for being older." She stands up and walks ahead. "I'm gonna grab some food."

"Much older..," Rosita mutters. Ash's hand freezes at the knob, but she doesn't turn back. "He is much older..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: There we go, Rosita knows and Ash is stubborn as heck! If you enjoyed the chapter, please leave me your thoughts! It keeps me going ;)


	6. Friendly Chats and Password

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Sorry for the delay! I've been sick again and for some reason my vision is blurry now. Please forgive eventual mistakes. If you like it, please leave me a review with your thoughts, it's very important *heart*

 

"I know you don't usually do this, but it's a police matter! Then get me someone who can crack it, you gotta have this password in some system!" He sighs. "Yeah, I'll hold. Thanks," he says, before turning the mic off and putting the phone on loudspeaker. Of course he wasn't gonna sit there, like an idiot, holding a now-mute phone to his ear. Moving over, he jumps onto the couch.

"Nothing?"

He lets out a groan, shaking his head. "If Moon survives this, I'm gonna kill him."

Laura laughs before joining him on the couch. "Don't you even joke about that," she begins, popping open a couple of buttons in his shirt and beginning to caress the fur that now stuck out. Munro stiffens up, a surprised look on his face. And then, it turns into a smile as he brings her closer. "Ash's worried as it is."

"Almost forgot about her. How's she?"

"Oh, she's fine. She sent me a good night message."

"That's nice."

"At two in the morning." He looks up in concern, so she sighs. "Yeah, I know. This is so obviously hurting her, I'm worried. She needs a break."

"Take her home."

"She refuses."

"Then, bring her here." Laura scoffs. "Hey, it could be fun! We pop open a couple of beer cans and just chill."

"You, a cop, going out of your way and giving beer to minors?" Munro frowns playfully at her.

_"Hello, sir?"_ He almost jumps off of the couch to grab the phone, and when he does, he quickly switches the mic back on.

"I'm here!"

_"Hello again, Mr Belleville. I am terribly sorry, but we cannot provide you the images or the password. "_ His ears droop more and more at each of the attendant's words. _"The password is personal, and encrypted, and impossible to be recovered from our servers. As for the images, we simply do not possess them. They only exist in the owner's property."_

"You couldn't give me them even if I had a warrant?"

_"I'm sorry, sir, but your warrant would be useless. We cannot provide you something we don't have in our domain. Is there anything else I can help you with?"_

"Do you know how to get someone out of a coma?"

_"Erm... no, sir, I do not."_

"Then that's everything. Thank you."

_"Calatonia Surveillance Systems appreciate your call, and have a good-"_

"Yeah, yeah," he hangs up before the sweet-sounding woman can finish. "Whatever."

Laura shoots him a sympathetic smile when he falls back on the couch next to her, arms crossed behind his head and eyes shut tightly. "Mun, it's not her fault..," she says, both soothingly and matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, I know it isn't..."

Then, they lock lips. And Munro can swear that, just for a moment, all his trouble goes out the window. He lets his hands wander down her body, stopping at her waist. Laura groans into the kiss, pulling him closer, and so he smiles. Their passionate kiss in only broken by the insistent ring of Munro's phone. With an irritated groan, he grabs the device.

"Yeah?"

_"Captain? Officer Frisk here."_

"What do you want?" He asks, sitting up.

_"I was just wondering when is it that you're getting to the hospital."_

"Oh... uh..," he starts off, a bit ashamed. He forgot completely. "We're... not staying at the hospital today. Sorry, I forgot to tell you. I was just so tired yesterday and... ah, well. Sorry you lost your trip to there."

_"I'm not there yet, it's alright. But captain... if we're not staying at the hospital, then-?"_

"The Moon Theatre. Moon has got to have this password written down somewhere."

_"A... password? To what?"_

"I found the images. They're at his computer, but require a password to be accessed. I don't know for how long the images will be saved there, so we're running against time. Plus Moon hasn't made it any easier for us. He left us a coded message to crack the password."

Frisk laughs. _"Police work at its finest, eh, captain?"_

Munro chuckles. "You're right. Call me Munro, from now on. And be prepared, this may take a while."

_"That's no problem."_

"'First love year' is his reminder. Got that?"

_"Wait, what? Why does-?"_

"I'm gonna ask him when he wakes up. Before you go there, however... I need you to pick Buster's record at the station. Anything you can find. Parents' names, school record, associations, criminal record... summing it up, I want anything you can find about him."

_"Got it. Full name?"_

He covers the speaker and turns to Laura. "Do you know his full name?"

"Buster Brandon Moon Jr. He's from... 1975, if I'm not forgotten."

"Buster Brandon Moon Jr, a koala, possibly born in 1975. He's 42, I'm too lazy to do the math."

_"Yes, from either 1974 or 1975. Erm... if you don't mind, sir?"_

"I don't."

_"What do you need those for?"_

"He could've used any of that as his passcode. Knowing him, he might've even changed the password but forgot about the reminder. This guy's crazy. Go to the theatre, try to find the password there. Retrieve any crucial info about him you can find in books, notepads, annotations, anything. I doubt that he wouldn't have the password to something so trivial not written down somewhere. Check for anything highlighted. Send it to my phone when you do, you got that? I'll be looking somewhere else for that."

_"It's gonna be solo work, sir?"_

"Is there a problem, officer?"

_"No, sir. But I'm supposed to work with you, if someone at the station finds out about it, I-"_

"The way I see it, no way someone from the station will figure it out if you don't tell them. But if someone gives you a hard time, report to me. Just do as I say and please hurry."

_"Right away, sir,"_ Frisk says, before hanging up.

"He has a criminal record?" Munro looks up at her. She has a frown on her features and it makes him chuckle.

"Possibly not, love," he explains. "But I need to check. I gotta go."

"Where?"

"Ash's house. I'm gonna turn Buster's crap upside down looking for it... can you try to get it from her?"

"Mun... do you think he'd give her this password?" She asks, sheepishly. He looks at her, so she starts mimicking Buster's voice. "'Hey love, have the password to access the theatre's cameras,'" she shrugs. "Does it make any sense to you?"

Munro chuckles, then takes her hand, starting to caress it. "No, it doesn't, love... I like the impersonation, though. And I gotta check anything that I got... I'm gonna go check if his friends have it, why not his girlfriend?"

"How would you explain it later, you got it from his underage girlfriend?"

"No one has to know she's his companion. She's a friend who learned the password from him, chop chop."

"Alright."

"Thank you, moonpie," he says, leaning in once again to kiss her. But the moment their lips touch, Laura lets out a laugh. He looks at her, puzzled. "What?"

" _Moon_ pie," she replies, between giggles. It takes him a moment to process the fun part of it, but when he does, she laughs at him.

"For Pete's sakes, Laura." He rubs his forehead with two fingers, trying to hold his laughter back.

When the two of them are finally done, they kiss, then leave to their destinations.

* * *

"Hey, if that was true, lizards wouldn't have tails, thing they do."

"Are you even serious right now? Of course not! It was-"

"I'm older, I know what I'm saying!"

"That's why! You studied this many years before I did, so your theory is old and rusty!"

"Ha! How dare..."

"Hey, I'm talking about a newer theory. Newer and more credible than yours."

"How dare you!"

"I studied this a little while ago, so there's more info to the theory, _grandma_."

"Grandma?! Here, hold my cane and I'll kick your ass!"

The two girls were walking back to the hospital, having the time of their lives on their way there. It was so much fun. They had walked on the beach, shared a couple drinks - Laura, obviously, hiding the fact Ash is a minor, the latter being extremely grateful for that - and bought some bags of chips for the porcupine, too. Laura figured they'd make a somewhat decent meal when you've spent the last three days in a hospital. However, the ride was much shorter than she expected it'd be. In half an hour, the two of them were almost back at the hospital, talking about whichever random subject they could find. When they reached the door, both females piped down not to disturb the patients.

"How's everything up there?"

"He's alright. At least, that's what the nurse said. But Rosita found out about... us."

Laura's ears droop as she shoots the girl a sympathetic smile. "How?"

"Munro mentioned it last night, and she heard it. She talked to me today about it, she said some horrible things..."

"I can imagine."

"She said Buster is 'using me' and just 'wants young blood in his life'."

She chuckles. "Does she know Buster at all?"

"I think not. I mean... that's ridiculous, right?" The older woman looks down at her, and so she puts her hands up, defensively. "I-I mean... you know him better than I do."

"He wouldn't do it. Not with how much he loves you." This was Ash's turn to look at the other female. "The way he talks about you gives it away. Perhaps, if he had talked about you to Rosita the same way he talks about you to me, she wouldn't think he's using you."

"Does he... talk to you about me?"

She shoots the rocker a humorous smirk. "All the time. _Especially_ after you traveled. He got really lonely, and..." she laughs, the memory rushing through her mind. "This day, he called me in the middle of the night, crying, worried that you'd meet some great guy in some city you visited and realize how much of a 'loser' he really was and dump him."

Ash laughs at that, shaking her head. "I told him many times he's the best guy I found."

"He told me you did," she shoots back, a smug grin on her face. "But still, he was so scared!" The two walk into the hospital room, taking a seat at the visitor couch. "He asked me to meet him in Harry's Bar at two in the morning! And all that because he had to cry a little."

"Next time, I'm taking him with me," she jokes, the two once again sharing a laugh. "Sorry if he was a bother."

"He wasn't, it's okay. It was fun, it's been a while since we last met to just chit chat, it was... entertaining. He didn't change the least bit. But that's not everything."

"There's more?!" The porcupine asks, shocked. Laura merely nods, her mouth once again curled into a smirk.

"Yes. He got drunk. Like totally drunk. Like 'he had to crash at the bar' drunk. He downed three or four beers and started telling me, and whoever else who wanted to hear, about his dad. He spoke about the car wash, about Miss Crawly, about his father is the best person he ever met. Two more beers, he got mad and was saying how Eddie cheated him on cards once and how he was going to get revenge. I doubt Eddie even _knows_ how to cheat at cards, but Buster got mad at him because he cheated on a card game."

Ash listens intently, and at some point, her jaw drops. "Shut up."

"Three more, he started crying about how he was going to lose 'the girl of his dreams' to some nicer dude who wasn't some 'middle-aged loser'. One more beer, he started talking about marrying you."

"Okay, _now_ you're joking."

"Through the phone, too." They take their sweet time laughing at that fact. "So I hid his phone and put a couple of sleeping pills on his drink. Half an hour of crying later, he was out like a light. He slept on the counter and I told the waiter to just let him crash there for the night."

"I can't believe I missed all this."

"Well... _personally_ , you missed it." She winks.

"No way."

"Come on, you think I'm gonna see Buster drunk, crying and laughing almost at the same time, _singing_ some pop song he knows to a bunch of alcoholics that were in the bar, and I won't take a single picture?! I didn't even have to take any, altho I have some in case I wanna rub it in. He recorded videos rehearsing his proposal. Even tried sending you one."

"That's too perfect!" Ash calls out, her face red from laughter, her eyes glassy with tears. She holds her aching stomach, too, and barely manages to get the words out.

"You had to be there. You would laugh really hard." When Ash finally grabs a hold of herself, she sits straight and wipes the tears that formed in her eyes. "I understand your friend there thinking he's just using you. I really do. I mean... she has probably seen a generous number of cases in which older guys trick younger girls for... well, sex. But not Moon. He loves you so much he thinks he's not worthy of you."

Ash nods, the little uncertainty she had now gone for good. "When he's up, I'll make sure he understands he is worthy."

"Do it. But again, I wouldn't mind seeing a drunk lovesick Buster again," she says, gently elbowing the teen's waist.

Ash winks. "I'll see what I can do. Now, can we see the drunk Buster videos please?"

"We can. But Ash, before that..."

"Yeah?"

"Mun found cameras at the theatre."

"Yeah, I know. I already told him the images are in Buster's laptop."

"We know that. Problem is... it requires a password."

* * *

Frisk sat down on the floor, several open notepads and notebooks all around him and on his lap. Him going through, he figured, the millionth page in that day. At this point, he didn't even care anymore and quickly scanned over pages before turning them. He tosses the notepad to the side. In that one, too, there was nothing that looked like a password.

He moves over to check the koala's desk, messing with more notebooks and writing pads he has there. Still, nothing that resembled a password. Just old theatre receipts, visiting cards, and sticky post-its. Giving up, he lays down on the ground and picks up his phone. Putting all those papers back can definitely wait. He checks his newest message.

_"None of those. I swear to Pete I'll look into every single one of those images to find out what he's hiding. I mean, come on! Well... I guess our job at the theatre is done. The lizard doesn't know and you've checked every paper sheet after the password. It's probably somewhere here, then. Nice work, Frisk. You can go home now. We meet again tomorrow. - Munro"_

Frisk lets his eyes scan over the message several times. It had been sent half an hour ago. If he knew, he wouldn't have wasted time looking at all those notepads. He curses himself for missing the tiny 'beep' his phone made whenever it got a message. Well, that had been a nice job. He had sent Munro many password options.

Just enough so the senior operator would not suspect he worked for the ones who did this.

Standing up once again, he proceeded to carelessly throwing the notepads into drawers. And when he was almost done, he ran out of space. He grunted, looking down at a pile of six or seven notebooks that still sat there. For a moment, he thought about leaving them there. Catching some wind. But he soon decided against that, so he began emptying a drawer. He coughed at the amount of dust that was in it. Seriously, how long since it had been cleaned for the last time? He covered his nose as pulled loose paper clips, stage dispositions, screenplays from the drawer.

When he got to the bottom of it, not much was left. A small tuft of hair, an equally small - and dried out, he could see - pen ink container, and two pictures. One of them was a polaroid, while the other seemed to be quite recent. The officer bent over to grab them.

Flipping the polaroid, the same girl who Munro carried a picture of in his wallet. A few decades younger, he noticed. She had her lips locked in Buster Moon's. The sides of his mouth curled into a frown, then a smirk when he saw the other one. The same male with his arms wrapped around a familiar porcupine's waist, she planting a sweet kiss on his cheek. The same porcupine who, he learned, was a minor. He dropped the pictures, his smirk growing broader, and quickly dialed a number on his phone.

"Dmitri? Pass the phone to the boss. You are _not_ going to believe what I just found."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: ALRIGHT! This is it, folks! I hope you all enjoyed that! It was fun to write the part about drunk Buster. XD If you like it or has something to tell me, please drop a review! *heart*


	7. Beeps and Testimony

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CORRECTION. In chapter 3, I stated Officer Frisk was a weasel. That is wrong. I think I typed weasel because that was the animal I first thought for him. Frisk is actually an OTTER. I apologize for the confusion.

 

The beeping of the heart monitor slowed down, the gaps separating each heartbeat growing wider by the passing second. Buster tossed and turned in his bed, gasping for breath. His blood pressure, too, decreasing rapidly. By his side, two paramedics tried reviving him, but to no avail.

"Vital signs decreasing rapidly, begin revival procedure."

"Ready. Reviving in three, two, one..."

And so, a wave of shock rushed through Buster's chest. Then, there was silence. The monitor's peaks and bottoms now replaced by an almost flat line.

"Time of death, 8:07 PM."

* * *

"Buster, no!" Ash jolted awake, panting. She brushed some sweat off her forehead. Her breathing was quick and it took a moment for her to realize where she was: still in the hospital room, she had fallen asleep against the armrest of the visitor's couch. By her side, another female slept peacefully. A female koala, who she quickly identified as being Laura. On the ground, there was Munro, and with him a laptop she knew all too well. With all the investigation going on, she was starting to grow tired of that laptop.

Slowly, she climbed down the couch (that was made for animals huger than her), doing her best not to wake up the other animals in the room. Sharp pain shot through her neck when she stood up, making her suppress a moan in pain. The pain, she figured, came from the terrible position she had fallen asleep in. With quite a few effort, she climbed up the large chair with a view to Buster's bed, eyes closed all along - just so, when she opened them, he'd be the first thing she saw. Ash brought her sweaty shaky hands up to the safety metal bars, gripping them tightly. So, she slowly opened her eyes. He was fine. Well... not fine. He was in a coma. But he wasn't dead, or dying, or having a heart attack. The heart monitor was beating almost perfectly regularly - in exception of some out-of-tune beats which, just like in a song, ruined the great melody his heart made.

She let out a relieved sigh, plopping herself onto the bed and falling by his side. She took a moment to look at his face. His chilled face. She ran one of her hands through his hair, stopping to gently tug on his ears. She withdrew her hand, reaching lower to grab his hand, entwining it with her own. As she looked down at it, a faint smile made its way into her face. And so, she cried. Sobbed. Ash cried until she couldn't anymore, doing her best to keep it down. She clung onto his hospital gown, resting her head on Buster's shoulder. She reached closer to whisper in his ear.

"Moon... why did it have to be you, Moon, why... come back to me..."

* * *

Fresh morning breeze came through the window, announcing a new day. The shy light made its way into the room. Laura stirred, slowly pulling the covers off of her. What had happened? She had spent the night at the hospital and most of that night had been spent helping Munro and his new partner crack the password. They had arrived late. At some point, she got too tired to keep helping, and joined Ash in Dreamland. Ash. Where had she gone?

She looked down at the ground, trying to find the girl.

"She's with him," Munro piped up, startling her a bit. Laura shoots him a glance. "She was a wreck last night."

"What happened?" She asks with a yawn.

"I have no idea. I just know her shirt and his gown are soaked."

"Good gracious," she says, hopping down from the couch to join her fiancé.

"Being here is killing her, love," he states matter-of-factly, "she can't handle this. She's hurting. You gotta get her out of here somehow..."

"Me?"

"Yeah, you. I... I'm gonna ask the crew if they remember the bears who caused the theatre to flood." He rubs his temples, looking over at her. "I mean... bears flood his theatre, then a while later he shows up shot by bears?"

"Nice clue. Who told you it was bears?"

He lifts a file. "This. The results came in and it wasn't one bear. It was two or three, they couldn't tell exactly. I think it was a gang. Like a real gang, not just a couple losers who ran out of beer to drink. An extortion gang. Buster tried smashing one of them in the head. He dropped a sandbag on his head, but the bear... didn't pass out or something like that? They don't know. He tried to run away but got caught. However, his leg was already broken, so police thinks it wasn't just about money. However, they could just be crazed maniacs who wanted to torture him."

At each of his words, Laura grips his hand tighter, listening intently. "And..?"

"And they scratched his sides big time, almost breaking a rib. Or two. Or more. Anyways... at that point, Buster probably gives them the money, and they shoot him so they don't have witnesses. That's what makes me think it's a gang. Normal robbers don't go out there killing witnesses, it's too risky. Gangs kill witnesses."

"Mafias kill witnesses."

"Those too. Anyways, Calatonia has five gangs with bears on them, so I'm kinda close."

Laura shifts awkwardly from her seat on the ground. "Mun, I don't know... isn't it better if you drop the case, or just let police look into it? I-I mean... gangs are dangerous, aren't they? They even kill cops."

"Oh, sweetheart, don't worry! I'm being careful. Besides..," he closes the distance to plant a gentle kiss on her lips. "No gang wants to kill a Special Operations Operator." She merely sighs, so Munro pulls her closer. "Hey, it's alright... remember that neo-Specist group I helped take down back in the day? That was a gang too."

"Your left leg is shorter than the right one because of them."

He shoots her a humorous smirk. "Think on the bright side... if I get shot, I may pair them up again!" The cop lets out a heartfelt laughter, but Laura just looks concerned. He immediately pipes down. "Love, nothing is gonna happen to me."

"You can't promise me that."

"Yeah. I can't. But I can try my best. I will try my best and make everything be alright, okay?" Her shoulders slump forward before she shoots him a weak smile.

"Alright. So go after those bears."

"On it, ma'am!" He salutes her before kissing her cheek, grabbing his bag and rushing out of the door.

"Be safe..," she whispers, almost to herself. Turning around, she faces the bed for just a moment before climbing up the chair by its side. After a few tries, she finally manages to plop herself onto the flat surface, and moves closer to gently run her hand on the sleeping porcupine's forehead. Munro wasn't joking. Ash was indeed soaked, her forehead with sweat, and her face with tears. Her eyes slowly open, and when they finally do, she looks up at her. Laura merely shoots her a sympathetic look.

"Laura..?"

"You alright? You're soaked..."

"I had nightmares all night..," she says with a pained yawn, "I'm so tired, Laura..."

"Ash, you gotta get out of here..," she soothingly states. The girl begins shaking her head, some new tears making their way out of her closed eyes. Laura gently caresses her chin to calm her down. "Can't you see how much it's hurting you..?"

"I don't wanna leave him," she sniffles, rubbing her nose. "Look at him. He looks so weak..."

"Dear, there's nothing you can do for him right now... you're just hurting yourself by staying here... you're hardly sleeping, and when you do, you have nightmares, are you even eating? Those chips yesterday and that half hour outside don't count. You need a break. You need to eat, and sleep, and go out in the sun."

"Who's gonna stay with him?" The rocker asks, wiping some tears away.

"I'm gonna call Eddie."

Ash scoffs. "Yeah, right. He broke down crying the first day he was here."

"Someone is staying, possibly a nurse. Point is... you gotta get out of here. Go home, take a nice hot shower, and have a decent meal, and sleep. Then, you can come back."

"I don't wanna be alone..."

Laura sighs. "Then, go over to my house. I'm gonna work my shift at the restaurant today then meet you there. How's that?" Ash nodded. "Good. Now, how about we get you up..?"

* * *

Munro knocks on the pool house, and as the protocol commands, takes a step back. Well, that was a nice location. A rich neighborhood, the kind that definitely didn't match the description Buster had previously given him of his friend. No answer. He knocks again.

"Mr Noodleman? Captain Munro Belleville, Los Antelopes Police!" Still nothing. Not a move inside. "I want to ask you some questions about Buster Moon! Mr Noodleman?"

"Yeah?" A voice behind him speaks up.

Munro screams, losing his balance and face planting into the pool. Eddie can hardly contain his laughter as he comes to the surface once again, a pissed off look on his face, and his once fluffy fur laying flat on his body. "Yeah, alright. I'll take this one because I hadn't seen you there," he explains, grabbing his soaked black beret and tossing it to the dry ground.

"Sorry! I didn't know I was gonna scare you."

"That's alright. My fault. Being brief, I know you but you don't know me. You studied with Moon, right? So you must remember a girlfriend he had back then, her name is Laura Fisherman. I'm her fiancé and also Buster's bud. He's in a hospital right now, as you know, he had told me about you a while back. I'm the cop who's investigating his murder attempt and I just want to ask some questions."

The sheep looks puzzled. "Wait, slow down. Who... who are you again?"

Munro just sighs. "Did Buster ever tell you about an experience with bears he may have had..?"

* * *

"He's collecting a testimony right now, I don't know from who. Can you blame me, the guy is a geezer but is super fast! No need to call me _that_. Listen. Could you... could you please listen?! The results came out today, he pulled the record of every gang that has bears on them in all Calatonia- I haven't found Mike yet, give me time! What do you want me to do? I won't do that, I'm a cop! Munro ain't a conventional cop, okay? If you take him down, the LASPOD falls on your backs, and that's the end of it! He's not part of the game, I could offer him $10,000 to quit this, he wouldn't take it. And he'd look into me as well."

_"What can you do?"_

"What can _I_ do? What can _you_ do! If you hadn't flooded the theatre, none of his friends would know about you!"

_"Then, I'm gonna kill everybody."_

"No, you're not! I'd attract attention! Did you already forget their names are in the news? Listen, I don't know Munro very well, but I'm pretty sure that if sees all of Moon's buds getting killed, he's gonna work solo in this case, and that's when I won't be able to help you anymore! He would get the Feds involved if it meant solving the case!"

_"We gotta kill him."_

"Or destroy his evidence. Listen, I know it may not seem like a lot, but the LASPOD _is_ a lot, and I've seen them take down entire gangs who killed one of their members. And if you kill someone like Munro, it'll just make it worse. But you know what I think? I think we are being pessimistic. Maybe his friends don't remember the flood! It was so long ago! Let's wait. If someone incriminatory comes up, I'll get rid of it."

_"How?"_

"That's on me."

_"You better do it if you don't wanna sleep with the fishes!"_ The bear says, chuckling darkly. Frisk gulped. _"And find Mike!"_

"I'm on it, I'm on it, okay?!" Silence. It took Frisk a moment to realize the bear had hung up. "Hello?" Reaching out, he clicked the phone on its resting spot, then quickly left the phone booth to get into his car, then riding it back to the station.


	8. Sleepovers and Pizza

****"Make yourself at home," the koala said, walking straight into a closet. "There's a clean towel in the spare room for you. I think we have sandwiches in the refrigerator too, and if we don't, there's always a frozen… something in the freezer. Mun practically lives off of that."

"And still gets to be in shape. I envy him."

"He's not in his best form, you should've met him 10 years ago. He was a sight for sore eyes. Anyways… you can have it, if you fancy. And I'm sorry for throwing all this info at you, I'm just really late."

"It's alright, I'm following."

"You have my phone, right?"

"Yeah. If anything happens, I'll call you."

"Alright. And sorry about the mess, but Mun's working home again and he's not exactly… organized."

Ash chuckles. "Neither is Moon. You wouldn't believe the mess he makes when he's writing a screenplay."

"I've seen his office," Laura retorts with a smirk, grabbing her purse. "Al… right… he'll be here in no time, don't let him pull you into this password thing, once you're in, it's hard to leave." Ash nods. "There's a TV here too, you can always watch something of your liking. Putting it simply, make yourself at home… I'm so late. So, so late. I gotta go. You gonna be okay on your own?"

"Yeah, I will," she replies, bringing the older woman into a hug. "Don't worry. Thanks. This is... this is great. It's sweet of you to do."

"Oh, it's nothing... you had to get out of the hospital."

She pulls away. "I'm worried about him..."

"Everybody is. But he's gonna be alright."

Ash sighs, not even facing the other female. "I hope so..."

"I know so," Laura says, gently patting the girl's shoulder. "He'll be alright. I'm really late, so I see you."

"See you."

The koala quickly rushes out the door, leaving the apartment to Ash. Moving over to the spare room she had been assigned to, she dropped her bags to the ground. The door was slightly ajar as she went over to the bed, letting her fingers caress the thin sheets. It was way too inviting. She put on a nightgown and let her body fall on the bed. Before she realizes, her heavy eyelids shut, and so she falls asleep.

* * *

Ash jolts awake sooner than she'd like. Her heartbeat is increased, her palms sweaty, and her breaths are coming out in pants. She looks around, seeing nothing but city lights out the window. It takes a moment to remember where she was, and what had happened, but when realization finally strikes, she lets her head fall back into the pillow. An honest mistake. As soft as the touch is, it sparks terrible pain in her head. She begins massaging her temples as some faint jazz music fills the room. From the narrow gap under the door, she can make out light in the other room.

Ash stands up slowly, holding her spinning head, and stumbling her way up to the door. Okay, she'd never eat nothing but chips for four days and then down a couple bottles of alcohol ever again. It hadn't been her best idea to cope with pain in the first place. She clings onto the doorknob as if her life depends on it, and, as soon as her head allows, she turns it.

"Hey! I didn't wake you, did I?"

"What?"

"Wow... Laura wasn't joking. You look like crap." Ash stares at the male koala in front of her, who puts his hands up. "No offense. I hope the music didn't wake you up. It's just, I had a rough day because of Moon and thought I could use some calm music. I can turn it off if you want me to, though."

"It's your house."

Munro shrugs. "Doesn't mean I can't be courteous to my guests. So, on or off?"

Ash moves over to the couch, letting herself fall on it. "On's fine."

"Got you." She closes her eyes, rubbing circles on her forehead. She can hear the music dim just the slightest bit and he's with her in a second, she can tell. She can feel his presence by her side, so she opens one eye. His hand is extended towards her. She uses it to prop herself up, and when she releases it, she can feel a small pill on her hand. "Aspirin. And some soda." He points to the center table. Ash just looks up at his face. Munro's bearing a bright smile, and so, her shoulders sag.

"I'm sorry," she sighs out.

"Hey... I've had hangovers," he chuckles. "More than I'll admit, actually." When she takes the soda glass from the table, he follows the move it describes on its way to her mouth.

"God, icy cold," she says, in a delighted breath.

"You're welcome. Finally grew a pair and fixed papa's old freezer. Junk's as old as me and still sharp!" He beams proudly before letting out a laugh. "Just like me. 51 and counting and sharp!"

"You seem happy." He looks down at her. "Not that you usually don't, just... today you seem especially happy."

"I am. Wanna know why?"

"You found the password?"

Munro chuckles, opening a beer can to himself. "One could only be so lucky. Still working on that. I'm happy because of this," he says, passing her a file.

"What's this?"

"Read."

"Transcription. Property of-"

"Not everything. Just the last page."

" **EN:** And he was there introducing the show, squids shining here and there. So they just barge into the theatre and go up to the stage.

**MB:** Who does?

**EN:** Bears. Three of them. They barge in and go up to the stage, and... _(pause)_ and Buster [Moon] is there _(pause)_ and asks them to leave.

**MB:** Go on.

**EN:** And so they hold up Mike [Michael Peterson Kayes]. He was part of the competition, in the open air theatre he sang some old school song. Anyways... the bears are up there and ask if he [Moon] knows him [Peterson]. He says he does and so they [bears] demand money.

**MB:** How well do you know Mike [Michael Peterson Kayes]?

**EN:** I never talked to him, just saw him interacting with other competitors. They say he's a money digger.

**MB:** What species is he?

**EN:** He's a mouse. A white mouse. Always wearing a suit, much like Buster's [Moon], topped with a hat.

**MB:** And about the bears... anything remarkable about them, appearance, voice, maybe a lisp in their walking pattern that you noticed?

**EN:** Well... _(pause)_ no. I mean, they had thick accents.

**MB:** From which country?

**EN:** They sounded Russian. They spoke some heavy English, it was hard to understand what they were saying at times.

**MB:** Mr Noodleman, one more question?

**EN:** Yeah?

**MB:** Do you think Mike [Michael Peterson Kayes] knew these bears or he was their innocent victim?

**EN:** I don't know. _(pause)_ I mean they knew his name, _(pause)_ Moon's too. Moon has no _(inaudible)_ , no one who'd demand money from him. Except for the bank, back then, but then he... _(pause)_ settled everything. Banks don't send bears out there to demand money from others, do they? _(laughs)_

**MB:** Mr Noodleman, did the bears provoke in you any sentiment of fear or intimidation?

**EN:** Well... yeah, but I think the feeling was general. They had a bat with them, possibly even more, they smashed the treasure chest that Buster [Moon] was keeping the prize in.

**MB:** But there was nothing there. Correct?

**EN:** No, there was. It was 900 dollars and a bunch of old junk he had.

**MB:** But the bears weren't satisfied by that.

**EN:** No. The chest was supposed to have 100,000 dollars in cash, no one really cared for that.

**MB:** Did the bears threaten Mr Moon at the spot?

**EN:** No, they just kinda... _(pause)_ wiggled the bat in the air, got real close to him.

**MB:** I'm sorry, Mr Noodleman, one last question?

**EN:** Yeah?

**MB:** Do you think that occasion might have to do with what happened to Mr Moon four days ago?

**EN:** No doubt.

**MB:** How can you be so sure?

**EN:** Well... _(pause)_ before that, I never saw someone who'd harm Buster [Moon]."

"Alright, stop there." She looks up at him. She can read the expectation all over his eyes, but before she can verbalize anything, he beats her to it. "I hit the jackpot! You know what that is? I know exactly who he's talking about!"

"Moon?"

"No! The bears! Hell... I've been after them since I was a rookie! And not to lie... I arrested them two times, and the two times they left the station laughing at my face. And then... what? 27 years later I, out of all skilled operators and officers of the station, get to go after them? How much luckier can I get?! I know... it's funny." He's walking around now. "I know _exactly_ who he's talking about. It's a Russian-American mafia. And Calatonia only has one of those. A mafia that is also a family formed by brothers Dmitri, Petrovich and Koslov Nikolaev Carmichael. Their acting site is the Roxy Nightclub, which I visited today, got two really sharp margaritas, and squeezed out of a DJ that those bears have been after Mike for a few months now! So, I pulled their files..," he says, beginning to deposit a few open files in front of her, on the table. "They gamble, extort, mug and have been accused of murder more than once. Never charged. They had a couple judges in their pockets back in the day, but if my memory doesn't fail, they were put away when Supreme Court Justice John Rhinoceros took office back in 2005. Gotta check. If they're still there, I'm gonna talk to the Colonel or someone and see if I can get the case into someone else's hands, someone who is a friend of the law. They aren't getting away this time. Two times, I was _this_ close to getting them."

"And the judges freed them?"

"Yes. The two times they deemed my evidence 'insufficient and sufferable'. Ridiculous pieces of-" He takes a deep breath. "Anyways... digging a bit deeper, I found out Mike has been chased out of the place by the bears. That was quite a few months back, when the competition was still up. I think it is safe to assume it was due to some bet went wrong?" He smiles, but soon his face is bearing a frown. "I still don't know how this relates to Moon, but I'm gonna find out. And Mike... gotta find him first. If he put these guys after Moon. And I need the password, images. I can't accuse someone based on some victim's friend's testimony. The judges will laugh at me."

"No doubt."

He gives her a playful smirk. "Yeah, alright."

"No, I mean... no doubt Mike would get in trouble. He went missing on the day after the competition, none of us heard from him ever since."

Munro looks at her pointedly, the gears turning inside his head. "May have to do with this. But like I said, I can't do anything without images. And luckily, I have images from the Roxy from six months ago. They keep images for a year there, because apparently, police goes there a tad too often looking for images. Of course, I will look into more or less 720 hours of filmed footage, but it'll be worth it if I find this Mike there. I gotta pull his file tomorrow, god, I have so much to do... but alright, enough technical terms. Images are gonna arrive at my email around 10PM, but I'm not looking into them today. Those margaritas really struck me, so I'm just gonna watch a little TV and crash. I'll just tell you this... I'm close to catching who did this." A confident smile is carved onto his face. "How's the head?"

"It's... here..?"

"Oh, you. Alright... how does some pizza sound like?"

"It sounds great."

"Good. I'm gonna order some, my treat, don't worry. I'm sick of eating this frozen crap with less than an ounce of filling. Plus, I gotta put some fat in if I don't wanna be in the hangover of my life tomorrow." He lets out a soundly laugh. "Because tomorrow, I'll to look into these images, and try to crack Moon's passcode."

"Love, I'm home!" Munro's ears perk up at the voice.

"Back here!" He says, taking stand by the door, prostrating against the wall.

"Are you here?" When Laura walks in, he jumps and picks her up in his arms, earning a surprised scream from her. "Gotcha!" He laughs out.

"God... damn it, Munro!" She smacks him, but it doesn't seem to affect him. His laughter only gets louder. "Put me down!"

"Never!" His voice is deeper than it usually is. Laughing, she still tries to break free from his arms. "I'll only let you go if I get a kiss," he says, with a mocking smirk.

Laura grabs hold of his chest before pulling him into a passionate, and rather long, kiss. From the couch, Ash watches, but soon turns her face to the other side to give the couple more privacy. "You didn't have to do all this to get it."

"I know, but it's funnier this way," he replies, swiftly landing her on the ground once again, and leaning in to touch foreheads with her.

"True. Is Ash up yet?" He smirks, merely moving his head to the right. She punches his arm. "Exhibitionist."

"Hey, I have the most beautiful woman in the world as my wife, can you blame me?" He says in a sweet tone, leaning in to kiss her neck. She giggles. Munro just takes her purse and conducts her deeper into the living room. "The two of us here were just about to order some pizza."

"Great! Pizza sounds good." Laura takes a seat on the couch, gently gripping Ash's wrist. "I'm sorry if we made you uncomfortable back there."

She just laughs. "Heh. It's okay."

"It's nothing she hasn't seen a billion times before, but usually she watches it in first person!" Munro laughs. Laura merely shoots him a stare, while Ash just laughs and pokes the woman.

"He's right."

He lifts his hands up in a small victory sign. "Well... I guess I was a pretty regular host until now, I'll pass that ball to you and go order pizza. Lau, to you, let me guess... cheddar and veggie pepperoni without onions."

"You know me so well," she says in a fake touched tone, putting a hand over her heart. The guy just rolls his eyes at her before looking over at Ash.

"Ashley?"

"I'll go with anything you guys are having." Munro sets off into talking again, but is soon interrupted by her. "And- oh... eh... sorry. But it's Ashlynn, not Ashley."

The male smacks his forehead. "Right! My apologies. Ahem... Ashlynn. We usually order a pizza and a half of veggie bacon, pepperoni, cheddar and a lot of sauce and half of that one Laura likes. Mainly because she can never finish an entire pizza on her own," he teases, poking his fiancée's side.

"Hey, I'm not like _some people,_ " she begins, smacking his hand away at the same pace she pokes his belly, "who don't watch out for their weight!"

"I burn all my fat in the gym."

"You haven't been to the gym in five years, you lunatic!" Laura laughs, being followed closely by Ash.

Munro even tries protesting, but soon admits his defeat with a hang of his head. "Yeah, alright. I haven't been to the gym in a little... while. However, I still do some weightlifting and pull ups and leg exercises at home, hence why I got these." He flexes his arms a little, but the females still just laugh at him. "Yeah, okay. But that's not the point. Point is, this place we're ordering from has got some mean pizza flavors that you really should try. How does cream cheese with olives and Dogritos pieces sound like?"

She smiles. "It sounds great."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Well, that's all for this chapter, folks! I'd like to thank my proofreader Bookreader525 for her help, because without her, this would never be up so soon ('soon'). SO THANKS EMILY! *HEART* LOVE YOU! If you liked the chapter, please leave a review. I feed on them XD


	9. Corrupts and Beers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I AM NOT DEAD! :D Only out of ideas until my best friend made small suggestions and WOW! Second longest chapter so far again? I LOVE IT! :D Sorry for the delay. But I promise the next chapter is 1/5 written.

 

"Hello?"

_"Is there a reason your boy in blue friend showed up at the club today?"_

The deep voice startles him a bit, so he covers the speaker. "Babe, gonna go outside for a moment. Be right back."

"Okay, love."

"I'll be right back," he says, going straight to the door and closing it behind him. He just goes into the garage, leaning against a dusty table. "How many times do I have to say my wife doesn't know I work for you?"

_"Oh, I am terribly sorry, Mr Family. But this is more important than she finding out."_

"What is it?"

_"Your coppa friend showed up at the club today."_

"Munro?"

_"Yes, Munro. What did he find?"_

"I... I don't know. Today is my day off, I didn't even see him."

_"How more incompetent can you get? I told you not to leave his side!"_

"He didn't tell me he was going!"

_"He wasn't supposed to tell, you were supposed to_ know _just for being there!"_

"I'm sorry. But like I said, I have a family I must watch after too."

_"I can fix that."_

Frisk's brows curls into a concerned frown. "If you harm Aspen… or my unborn daughter… I'll have you locked up so fast you won't have time to blink."

The voice on the other side just laughs. " _Don't bother. You're a no one. Your bud there was a Lieutenant when he tried getting us and everything he had vanished into thin air."_

"Wait… what?"

" _I knew that name was familiar. This guy tried arresting us like thirty years ago. We even suggested taking him down, but our judges wouldn't let us. Today is different."_

"What do you mean he tried arresting you?"

" _What do you think that means, Frisk?"_ The otter stays silent. " _Tell you what. Do as we say, everybody is happy, your boy in blue remains alive just like your daughter and wife, the end. How's that?"_

He sighs, swallowing a lump in his throat. "Fine. That's fine by me."

" _Then we have a deal. And find out what your friend knows!"_

They hang up. Frisk promptly tosses his phone back into his pocket, then directing his hand to rub his forehead. He frowns to himself, opening the door to the garage and walking into the front lawn. Prostrated against the fence, he watched his wife. Looked down at her swollen belly, then back at her face, then down at his own hands. He wants to cry, but doesn't find the strength to do so. Slowly, he walks back into the house, silently shutting the door behind him. He's with Aspen in a second.

"Who was it?" She asks, looking over at her husband. "You okay? You look pale." Frisk hugs her from behind and runs his nose across her neck, slowly inhaling her scent. Soon, she can feel his lips on her neck, so she leans against him.

"It was no one," he assures, "just... this LASPOD guy I'm working with, Munro."

"Oh yeah? What did he want?"

"Nothing. Just update me on the case. He doesn't get a day off."

"Really? I heard the LASPOD gets three week days at home."

"That's because they work 24-48 or 48-72, depending on what they're working with. And also because they're only called in emergencies."

"Was this case an emergency?"

"No, it was supposed to be investigated by the precinct's detectives. But the victim is... a kinsman of Munro's? I don't know. He was allowed to work on it as long as he coached me."

"Ha! _Coaches_ you? You're way past the probatory stage!"

"I know."

"Did you talk to the Chief?"

"Yeah, I did. It didn't work."

She snorts. "Ridiculous."

"I know. But hey... if I get this guy to like me, he may talk about me to the Colonel. I may even join the LASPOD!" She turns to him with a serious look. He shrugs. "What? I may! It has happened before."

"Alexander William Frisk, you are not going to lick some cop's boots in exchange for a job."

"Of course I won't! And that's not what happens, either! I mean that if he likes my work, he may invite me to join, take it easy on the course."

"Why didn't you work to pass the usual course, baby? I remember someone saying you were one of the best in the class."

"I was until a certain point. The course is hard, love."

She shrugs. "Munro passed it. And isn't he like 60?"

"51. And he passed it when he was 20."

"And he keeps working without undergoing a second course?"

"Actually, he retired a while back. He only came back for this case."

"And... he didn't undergo the course again."

"At his age? No. The LASPOD wouldn't risk it."

"Won't risk the guy having a heart attack in the course but will risk endangering his life in a shootout or something. Bunch of irresponsibles sons of a-"

"Hey! I think that too, love, but the Chief of the LAMAOD and the LASPOD don't care about what I think."

"Corrupts, all of them," she says with a shake of her head. "You watch your friend's work closely, love. There is a reason they allowed him back."

Frisk's persona falters. He lets almost the entirety of his weight rest upon his wife as he buries his face in the nape of her neck. Oh, if only she knew _he_ is the one working in the case for a reason... "We have a plan. I'll watch him closely."

Aspen leans against him as well. "Will you watch your back, too..?"

"Yes, I'll watch my back too. But I'm probably gonna need a mirror for that." She cracks up laughing, finally turning to look at him.

"We can work that out."

Altho her protuberant belly repels him lightly, he still holds her close.

And his will to cry is still there. But, for his wife, he's going to refrain from it.

It saves him from explaining why he's crying, too.

* * *

Ash lays down by Buster's side. Soon, her hands wander down to find and caress his soft, furry hands. She can feel tears prickle her eyes, but fights them back the best she can. She brings him yet closer to her, yet stays mindful of her quills.

"Hello again," she whispers at the bottom of his ears. "Hey, love... sorry I went away. I needed to shower, and eat, and get some sleep. No offense to your room, because it really is a nice room, but the couch is very uncomfortable to lay on."

The tears are practically trying to flood her eyes. She clears her throat to smooth her teary voice and sniffles in a desperate attempt to prevent the tears from falling. "Do you find this bed comfortable? It feels a bit hard to me... but again, that may be because I got a thousand pointy knives attached to my back." She chuckles lightly, gripping his hand a little. "Can you squeeze my hand..?"

Seconds tick away, Ash growing more desperate by the 'tick'. She can no longer hold the tears back, so she just allows them to flow freely from her eyes. "I'm sorry..," she mutters between cries. "I just... why you, Moon, why..? Out of so... so many animals in this state... some of... who did terrible things... and they go after someone who could never harm a fly... you got flaws... like anybody else, but..." The emotion in her voice prevents her from continuing. She grips his gown tightly, comforting herself by his presence.

"Please come back to me..."

* * *

"Lau, you here?" Munro walks inside, shutting the door behind him. "Lau? Ash? Ghost of my nana?" No answer. He walks over to his room, tossing the increasingly heavy file to the bed. Since he's alone, he takes the liberty to kick off his shoes as he walks over, and letting them choose where they want to be. The same goes for his loosely folded uniform: he throws it at a chair and pretends not to see the pants that slide right down to the ground.

He sends Laura a quick 'I'm home, love you' message before turning on the stereo in some calm song and hopping into a nice, hot shower. Well, that had been a productive day, collecting testimonies and the all.

Johnny didn't give him much more than Eddie did, Gunter was out of town, a still-traumatized Meena could hardly form a sentence and Rosita, for whatever reason, shut the door on his face. He didn't push. He can't force a witness to testify.

He wishes he could.

But since he can't, most disappointing day of his career it is.

Mid-bath, he can't miss it when the sound goes slightly fainter, and that's how he knows his fiancée is back home. He speeds up a little. Once he's out, he wraps himself in a towel and goes straight to the living room. He spots Laura at the kitchen, and slowly approaches her, hugging her close from behind. She leans into his arms.

"Hey."

"Hey... how was your day?"

"Ah... very disappointing, but it just got better. Yours?"

"Would it get better if I told you I got a pack of artisanal beer for you?"

"Depends. Will you help me finish it?"

She giggles, lifting both his hands to her mouth and kissing them. "Of course."

"Then, yes, it just got better." He kisses the nape of her neck, making the woman shiver. A satisfied grin paints itself on his features as he lets his hands lay on her belly. "Ash with you?"

"No, she's staying in the hospital for the night."

"Good." Munro dips Laura lightly, earning a small yelp from her. He kisses her gently. "Balcony?"

"Beer and starlight? All in."

* * *

"Alright... each of these is a different flavor, and I put post-its over the labels so we don't know what we are taking. Wanna flip a coin or get them off and take the ones you fancy?"

"I was thinking Russian roulette. Whatever we grab, we down."

"Fine by me. Ready?"

"Born ready."

"Okay, go!" At her sign, the two of them reach into the beer case and soon come up with a couple bottles. Laura pulls the post-it off first. "Strawberry Explosion."

"Fresh Mint," Munro says disappointedly as he scrunches up the post-it and throws it away. "Why do I have the feeling this is liquid toothpaste?"

"There is a name for liquid toothpaste. It's called mouthwash." He cracks up laughing. She just smirks, passing her beer over to him. He promptly opens it and gives it back. "Thank you."

"Welcome, love." He opens his own beer. "Alright, on the count of three?" She nods. "One, two, three, down!"

The two of them take large sips of their fate-chosen drinks. When they come up again, Laura's mouth is curled upwards in a smile, while Munro's is just expressionless. She giggles. "What?"

"Alright, so... mouthwash from a... dubious source." She only laughs harder, so he gives her a humorous smirk as he taps her side. "Yours?"

"Sweet, but leaves a slightly sour taste in the mouth. Wanna try?"

"Can't be any worse than the prison mouthwash one." She laughs as they exchange beers. Once again, they down the bottles.

Laura coughs into the bottle top. This time, it's Munro who laughs. "You were right. This is like the worst thing I ever tried."

"Told you so."

"God... what did you say this was again, prison mouthwash?"

"Yep."

"Why prison? But damn, it tastes like that."

He laughs lightly, taking the bottle from her hand and putting it on the ground below. "Alright, we both agree Fresh Mint is terrible. And that's the expression police uses for bad things, they belong to prisons."

"Seems accurate, if we're talking about this. Ack." She scrubs her mouth with her hand in an attempt to get the bad taste away. Munro just chuckles before taking her hand. When Laura looks up at him, he plants a long and sweet kiss on her lips. She gladly accepts it, letting her lips meld with his flawlessly. They don't know who starts, but in a matter of seconds, their tongues are dancing passionately. They come up for breath sooner than they fancy. Their mouths part with a loud 'pop' sound and neither of them can stop smiling at one another.

"Where... where did this come from..?" Laura asks between pants.

Munro merely shrugs, planting a kiss on her collarbone. She shivers and shuts her eyes. "What did _that_ taste like?"

He leans in to touch foreheads with her. Her arms slowly guide up his chest to his back as she pulls him closer. "It tasted like... Strawberry Explosion... and love... and you're gonna have to do better than that if you wish to get the Fresh Mint taste out of my mouth, Belleville."

"Oh, I will, huh?"

"Yes. Yes, you will."

* * *

It's past two in the morning when a loud ringing noise startles the couple awake. Laura scrambles around for it, lazily picking it up and pressing the 'answer' button.

"Hello..?"

_"Hey, uh... I'm sorry about the time."_

She yawns and rubs her eyes as she sits up. "Ash?"

_"I-I'm sorry."_

"Ash, it's okay. It's alright. What is it, you okay?"

_"Yeah, everything's fine, I just..."_ Laura can make out a faint sigh on the other side. _"Can I sleep in your house?"_ Before she can reply, Ash goes on. _"I'm sorry, I shouldn't be asking this. But I... I just... I keep..."_

"Ash, it's alright to be afraid... especially at night, when you're sleeping in a hospital, with your loved one in a coma right beside you."

_"So... I can come over?"_

"Any time you want. Need a ride?"

_"No, I'll... I'm gonna take a cab. Thanks, Laura."_

"Welcome. I'll be waiting, okay?"

_"Okay. U-uh... thanks again."_

"It's nothing. I'll wait."

"When she gets here, can I kill her?" She elbows his side. "Ow!"

"Take it easy. It's hard on her."

"I was joking, love," Munro says, pulling her into his arms. "Get in here."

She plants a sweet kiss on his lips before giving into his embrace and cuddling close to him. "Did we seriously sleep out here?"

"Problem? It's comfortable and warm." He kisses the top of her head. "I gotta get up. Look into Moon's password, I don't know how long the images will be there."

"Oh come on..."

"I have to, love. I'd love to stay, but... I gotta get up." He kisses her forehead. "When you sleep. I can wake you up when Ash is here."

She yawns. "Sounds like a plan." Laura grabs the covers, bringing them closer to herself as she snuggles up to her companion, and caresses the fluffy fur on his chest. After a short while, she leans in and kisses it. "I had a great time tonight."

"Me too."

* * *

"First Love Year, you have got to be joking me, Moon," Munro rants to himself as his Goorilla search returns no useful results. He scrolls down for a bit. "Of course. Moon wouldn't create a password that anyone could discover with a Goorilla search."

Eventually, his fingers grow tired of scrolling, so he just starts using the keyboard's arrows. But that happens before a specific result gets his attention. " _First Love,_ 1948\. A romantic comedy movie, seriously? Worth a try." With a sigh, he minimizes the window and moves the mouse over to the security app, but before, he takes a look at the wallpaper. A picture of Buster and Ash.

"A koala... and a porcupine... she, a rebel teenager; he, a middle-aged theater nerd... Love truly is a curious thing, ain't it..?" He clicks the surveillance icon and the feared login screen pops in front of his eyes. He takes a deep breath. "1-9-4-8. Come on, Moon... bear with me here." He blows a hot breath at his hand before wiping it on his shirt and finally reaching out for the mouse. The arrow is soon on the 'Enter' button. Munro's hands are shaky. Click.

_"The password you entered is incorrect."_

"Son of a-!"

_Ding dong!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Well, it only took me an eternity. I missed the feel of clicking the 'Update' button XD if you like my story, please leave a review!


	10. Exes and Movies

 

"Coming, coming…" He opens the door and pops his head out. "Hello there."

"Hey, Munro. Sorry, did I wake you up?"

"Yes, you did, and thank you for it," he says, opening the door wide. "Moon's password is driving me nuts. Can you believe I didn't have time to check the images from the nightclub yet?"

"I… imagine."

Munro's hand slides across the wall, finding the switch and turning the light intensity a tad bit up. The two animals in the hallway squint their eyes slightly. Ash is quick in tearing her gaze apart from his, but Munro sees right through her. He reaches out and lifts her chin. When she closes her eyes, he gently pinches it, so she faces him.

Her eyes are a light shade of red and she looks like she was hit by a truck. "Oh, Ash… get in here." He opens his arms, and she hugs him. "Get in," he continues, taking a few steps back, bringing the girl along to the inside of his apartment. Once he closes the door, she tightens her grip, making him gasp and hold her back just as intensely.

"Where's Laura..?"

"Asleep. I'm going to wake her up." He breaks the embrace.

Ash moves forward and takes his hand. "N-no... don't wake her up just for this."

"I told her I was going to. It's alright. Meanwhile... make yourself at home. Laura got us a pack of artisanal beer, but stay away from Fresh Mint. Trust me, it's for the best."

"Okay..?"

"I'll go now and get her, alright?"

She sighs. "Alright. I'm sorry, Munro. I'm just a little... shaken up because something happened and..." He shushes her with his hands, a kind smile on his face. "Thank you."

"Don't thank me. It's nothing. But if you _really_ wanna thank me... I need your testimony in what happened on the day the theatre flooded. It doesn't have to be now, though."

"Okay," she replies, not fully understanding what he meant by that. Munro quickly trots off to the master bedroom, muttering something that Ash can't quite catch. Under the dim light of the living room, she can't help but notice the various items displayed on shelves. Small souvenirs from trips abroad, several decoration paraphernalia, commemorative plates and pictures - many pictures. Munro and Laura in a cafeteria, in other parts of the country, in places she had only seen in her history books, and some she hadn't ever seen at all. And, a picture of Munro with another koala, a younger male. He, in his black LASPOD uniform; his companion, in a blue police uniform. Both of them aiming guns at the sky.

Ash's jaw drops. Was... was that their _son_? "Ash?" She almost drops the portrait when a hand rests on her arm.

"Hey, Laura... o-oh uh..," she says, sheepishly handling the woman the portrait. She merely chuckles, shaking her head.

"It's alright. Want something to drink?"

"You have a son?"

She sighs. "Not by blood. He's Munro's son from his previous wedding and lives down in Penguinsylvania."

"What's he like?"

"Like... Munro, but with all the sense of humor and none of the aggressivity," she says with a laugh. "If Mun's a character himself, just picture his son."

Ash giggles. "What's his name?"

"Guess."

"Munro?"

"Munro Jr., but we just call him Junior."

"That's nice."

"Yeah..." She stares absentmindedly at the picture for a few moments before looking up at Ash again. "U-uh... anyways, want something to drink?"

"It'd be nice. Munro said something about beer..?" Laura looks at her, an unamused look on her face. "I'm... a couple years away from 21." Her brows furrow. "Okay, a _couple_ couple years away from 21. But we had a great time a few days ago, didn't we?" The woman moves over to the refrigerator and pulls out a couple cans. "Thank you!"

"Welcome. So, what happened?"

"Oh. Well... Lance showed up at the hospital today."

"He did? What did he want?"

"He just... showed up late in the night, saying he loved me and missed me and... how talented I was and how he was so blind to it... and offering us to-"

"Get back together," Laura finishes. Ash nods. "Was he drunk?"

"No. I-I mean... if he was, he hid it well."

"What did you tell him?"

"I said he was lying. That he was just... trying to win me over no matter the cost."

"Good one. What happened then?"

"Then... he just started saying what a mistake I was committing. How Moon was a pig for being older than me, how he'd die way before me... trying to bring me back to my 'senses'."

"And you slapped him for being nosey."

"No. Should I have done that?"

"No, Ash, I was joking," she says, moving over and sitting closer to the teen. She ponders over her next words carefully. "But you know, he is right in one thing... Moon is gonna die before you."

"I knew that."

"And you also know that you may... have to care for him as he grows in age. Right?"

"I don't think so. He's healthy as heck."

"I know he is, but he's also young to have most old people's diseases. He's forty... forty-two, if I'm not mistaken. When he reaches 50, 60, you'll be on the brink of your youth, and, well... he'll be an old man."

"'Brink of my youth?'" She raises her eyebrows. The older woman sighs.

"You know what I mean. I'm not saying it will necessarily happen, but in ten or twenty years... he may need you to care for him."

"Yeah, Laura, I knew that. And what do you think I have been doing when I'm in the hospital? Staying by his side, making sure he's alright and getting a decent treatment. So do me a favor and stop treating me like a dumb teen!"

"I'm not treating you like a dumb teen, I'm just saying what being with him brings, Ash, that's all."

"I don't need you to tell me."

"Well, fine then. So, what is it that you wanted here?"

The teen's annoyed demeanor falters. "I just didn't want to sleep alone in the hospital. It's dark and cold."

"Welcome to hospitals. Alright, you know where the visitor's room is, and we changed the sheets just today. I'm going back to bed."

"L-Laura, I'm sorry. Can you stay..?"

The koala's expression softens up a little, but her tone remains firm. "What for?"

"We can just… talk about whatever, watch a movie, or..." She trails off, looking up at the woman standing tall over her. "I'm sorry, Laura. I didn't mean to say that."

Laura flashes her a quick smile. "Apology accepted. Come on."

* * *

"Mind if we join you?"

The male looks up, immediately cracking a smile at the sight of her. With a nod of his head, he opens his arms, gently pulling her into his embrace. He buries his face in her soft belly as his fingers trace down her thighs and caress the soft fur that covers the surface. She giggles, then leans against him, hugging her crouched partner the best she could without getting on knees herself.

"Always an honor, love."

"What are we watching?"

"First Love, an old romantic comedy movie. I think it's the one Moon references in his password." He takes a deep breath. "I definitely hope it is. Back when you guys were together… or these days, I don't know, did he ever say anything about it?"

She looks up in thought. "Not that I can remember. We may have watched it together, though. Moon is a romantic comedy freak."

"Suits him fine." He laughs. "Alright, let me set up the computer and we can start watching, okay?" Munro kisses both her hands, then gently pushing her aside. She complies, soon joining the porcupine on the couch.

"Moon told me he's been living with you since the theatre flooded," she begins. "I hope you're giving him all the tasks you don't wanna perform."

Munro slowly looks up and turns to her. She returns his stare with a playful smirk before laughing. He merely chuckles, focusing back on the twist of wires in his hand. He tucks them behind the TV, then uses the rack to propel himself up. He dusts both his hands off before stumbling lightly on his way to the couch. "You… are a dirty liar. You didn't ask for anything, this that I just did was a courtesy of Gentlemanly Inc." The fact that he bends down to kiss her hand only makes Laura laugh harder.

"Get in here." She opens her arms. He promptly jumps into them and holds her close.

"You know… I love technology. I really do. But ask me to pair a TV and a computer together and I rethink my love for it."

"Don't blame you," Ash pipes up. "Combining two devices is hard, even for us younger folks." The two koalas look at her. Realization immediately strikes and she puts her hands up in defense. "N-no, not like that!"

"Ash, it's alright. We accepted long ago we are old," Laura informs her.

"Not old, we're _classic_ ," Munro corrects with a wink.

The two females let out a small laugh before the room falls into dead silence once again. "Well…" The older woman says. "Whenever the computer wants, I suppose."

"We never had this problem with cassette tapes." Laura looks at him, a mischievous smirk on her face. "What?" Her smirk only grows wider. "Alright. You're retro, I'm classic."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: There we go! If you like it, please drop a review. It means a lot to me.


	11. Couples and Radios

The rocks surrounding the lake gleam under the moonlight. On the shore, two star-crossed lovers talk, the male raccoon holding onto the female's shoulder, in a desperate attempt to prevent her from going away.

"Stay."

"No, Jackson, I can't do this," Clara informs. "My parents told me to stay away from you, I'm already out of my way by being here! And in a place that everyone can see us, too..." She mutters the last phrase.

"So marry me! And we'll live in an enclosed house, where no one will see you!"

"No, you don't understand it! Michael has made his point clear, either I walk down that aisle tomorrow or we're both dead!"

"We have the cover of love to hide ourselves from his hatred!" He throws his overcoat over his loved one, as if to shield her from all evil and danger the world brings. He pulls her closer, touching noses with her. "As long as it's reciprocated..."

"You know I've always loved you."

"And you're the first one I ever loved."

She looks up at him. He smiles. And right there, under the moonlight, their lips meet in a passionate kiss.

* * *

"This was a nice movie," Ash comments, looking over at the koalas beside her. She almost immediately laughs at the scene in front of her. A crying Laura, holding tight onto Munro, who seemed to be holding his own laughter back. "Are you seriously crying?!"

"You should've seen her during _Tigertanic_! I could've drowned!" The male joins in the laughter, earning himself an elbow to his stomach. He lets out a pained 'oof!'

Ash only laughs harder at that. For a second, she almost forgets the entire situation with Buster and Lance. "O-oh my god! Laura, this is the cheesiest romance I've ever seen, and that's saying something! How can you cry?!"

"Criers gonna cry. Sorry there, love, but crying during _Inside Otter_ is too much for me." Another pained sound mixed with laughter - as the female once again strikes him. "Ow, stop it! Come on, let the kid know how much of an emotive sweetheart you are," he coos with a teasing tone, gently pecking his loved one's forehead.

Laura smacks him lighter this time, but she still does it. "Group hug!" Ash calls. And so the two of them hug the woman.

"I'm fine. I just need to..." She sniffles. "Come on, how can you _not_ cry at that?! Especially with that ending! It's romantic!"

"It's almost painfully corny, my love, but I won't hold that against you," Munro begins, leaning in to peck her forehead. "I'm glad you like it and this was a very well-spent hour and a half with the love of my life and a good friend, but case-wise, this movie didn't give me much. Couldn't squeeze out three possible passwords from it."

"I got seven," she states, passing him a piece of paper. "But seriously, Mun, can't anyone at the LASPOD hack into that thing or something?"

"It's encrypted. Police couldn't crack it, the LASPOD couldn't crack it, and my hacker friend Matt couldn't crack it."

"How do you know a hacker?"

"He hacked into the LASPOD website and I was the operator in charge of his arrest. Anyways... he couldn't crack it either. He told me about binary codes and patterns for half an hour, explaining how the camera images couldn't be hacked. Maybe the Feds can do it, but my contact there retired last month and can do nothing for me in that respect. And if I ask someone to look into it, I'll need to open a Federal case file, which I can't do. It's not a Federal case until it moves to other states or countries."

"Summing it up..?"

"Summing it up, I'm lovesick, I love you, and I'm sleepy. Could you please cuddle me to sleep? It'd solve many of those issues."

Laura lets out a soft laugh before standing up. "Alright." She looks down at Ash. "Have a good night, dear. And anything you need, just wake me up, okay?"

"You two make the cutest couple." The statement takes the koalas by surprise. Ash can't believe she's actually saying that. "E-erm... sorry, it's unexpected. But it's true. The two of you are just so..." She lifts her hand in an 'ok' sign. "I want my relationship with Moon to be like yours someday."

The couple exchange glances, love clearly visible in their eyes. "Well..." Munro speaks up, gently pulling his fiancée closer. "What you see here took ten amazing years to become what it is... but if you ask me, Ash, I think it'll take way less than that with you and Moon. Not every girlfriend stays in the hospital with her boyfriend. It takes a special kind of girl."

Ash smiles up at him.

* * *

"Hey, love... how are we doing today, uh?" Ash gently asks, nudging her boyfriend's side. "I miss you... a lot. It's funny how I go away for a long time and when I come back I walk into this... who did it, whoever did it, is so selfish... couldn't wait one other day just so I'd arrive and hug you... and kiss you... and tell you how much I love you before all this happened..."

Ash looks up at the heart monitor. The beat is almost perfectly steady. She couldn't help but notice that, despite Buster's comatose state, his colors were returning to his features, and heck, even his fur. It was soft and shiny... as if nothing had ever happened. He looked fine. There were no bags under his eyes and he didn't look as tired. He was in a peaceful sleep. The lung-draining machine, too, was gone. Upon her arrival, the nurse had informed her that his lungs had been completely drained and he was now readapting to his previous breathing pattern, one sniff at a time.

In simpler terms, he was re-learning how to breathe with his own lungs again. And apparently, that was coming out better than the doctors expected, since they didn't think a machine to help with that would be necessary. Buster was only bearing a thin tube that was attached to his nose to keep his blood oxygenated and also the usual needles in his arm, to keep him hydrated and fed or something. Ash couldn't remember.

In even simpler terms, he was doing great, and was expected to wake up soon. The doctors didn't give a date or even an estimation not to get her anxious - or disappointed, in the case the prediction was incorrect. They just said it'd be soon and that it all depends on how fast his brain understands there is no danger anymore and wakes him up. A nurse added that the older the person is, the longer that takes, but Ash pretended not to hear that part. Buster wasn't young, but he wasn't a geezer either. She figured time would tell, and meanwhile, she'd stay by his side and hope he woke up soon.

"Ash?" She closes her eyes at the voice.

"Unless you're here to check on him, Rosita, I don't wanna hear it."

"Ash, couldn't you see what I was trying to say that day? And you haven't been answering my calls or the door of your house. I was worried."

"If it makes you feel better, I haven't been answering any calls, and I haven't slept home once since I arrived. I'm staying with a friend."

"Who?"

"I've been sleeping over at Laura's." Rosita looks at her with a confused expression. "That female koala who came here on day one."

"Oh, right. You've spent the last few nights over there?"

"Yeah, I did. And I also turned my phone off yesterday after Lance somehow discovered my new number. I really need to get a phone that allows you to block numbers. Mine doesn't do that."

Rosita looks down, fiddling with her thumbs. _Wow, the punk took me seriously. Hopefully_ he _can get Ash back to her senses..._ "Well, do you want to go shopping for a new one?"

"Sure! As long as my relationship with Buster isn't one of the subjects we talk about."

"Ash, don't be headstrong..."

" _You_ don't be headstrong! You're looking for problems that don't exist based on your prejudice!"

"Prejudice? I have kids, Ash! You think I did no research on relationships? It's all there! Older guys, as a general rule, trick younger girls into relationships for their own pleasure and to feel young!"

"Yeah, general rule. Doesn't mean Buster applies!"

"Maybe not, Ash, but what's the possibility?" Rosita approaches her. "I swear I'm not saying this to be mean. You're not dumb, Ash... you know the reason I'm saying this. And you've seen cases like these. Every once in a while they appear on the news. How can you be _so_ sure your case is an exception?"

"Rosita, I'm sorry, but... yeah, you have a point. But you don't know the details of our relationship."

"Maybe I don't, but think. Just think. That's all I ask."

* * *

"Captain."

"At ease. How are we doing today, Frisk?"

"Very well, Captain. So, listen-"

"How many times do I have to say? Munro. Or Belleville. Captain makes me feel old, like I'm a senior operator."

Frisk gives him a weird look, but soon nods. Better not fight against it. "Terribly sorry, Cap- Munro. Anyways, I was just wondering how much we have advanced on the case."

"I still haven't discovered Moon's password even though I worked a considerable share of the night. I got images from the nightclub where our criminals act, but haven't looked into them yet."

"You already know who did it?"

"Welcome to Special Operations, kid. 30 years of service have got to pay off somehow."

"So... who did it?"

"A bear gang. Now I just need images to prove it. Speaking of which, as soon as we reach the LASPOD, we'll look into the nightclub's cameras together."

"Alright." Frisk looks out the window, taking in the city scenery surrounding them. "So... do you like music?"

Munro chuckles. "Who doesn't? Why, do you wanna dance?"

Frisk lets out a laugh. "No, sir, but thanks for the offer."

"I'm just joking," he teases. "Wanna turn the radio on? Go ahead."

The otter moves over, lightly tapping the 'on' button. "Any preference?"

"I prefer low. I'm hearing-impaired on the left ear, but the right one hears a lot more than the average koala's."

"Impaired?!" Frisk asks incredulously. "How did that happen?!"

Munro keeps his chill. "How old do you think I am, Frisk?"

"Well, definitely not old enough to lose all hearing in one ear!" He looks up in thought, leaning in slightly to look at his pal's face. "I'm betting on 45," he lies.

Munro laughs. "Aren't you kind? 51 and counting. I joined the LASPOD in the first class it ever graduated and lost my hearing when a recruit I was coaching fired his rifle before I could get my muffs on."

"Ouch."

"It didn't hurt. I didn't even hear it. But ever since, I've been gradually losing my hearing on the left ear, and gaining more and more hearing on the right one. It's almost annoying at times."

"Well... you'd make a fine sniper, sir."

"I did! But the frontline is my true passion." He laughs. "What about you, Frisk? What's your specialty?"

"My specialty is... following orders from the Chief and superior officers, bringing lunch to them, wiping the station's floor and handing out speeding tickets. Widely capacitated, if you ask me."

Munro lets out heartfelt laughter. "You should join the LASPOD. We're low on lunch bringers," he jokes.

This time, Frisk laughs, looking up at the sky. "Maybe someday." And that's when realization strikes him. Crooks don't join the LASPOD, and the operators from there know exactly who is a crook and who isn't. He was new to the crooked cop world, but how fast did the news spread? He clears his throat. "Anyways... how well do you like soft rock? Because I know a very good station."


	12. Laptops and Headquarters

"Make yourself at home, but don't make any sudden moves," Munro warns with a mocking smirk. "And don't jolt back or draw if you hear a gun going off or happen to come across a caliber 50. Rule is, don't stay in front of it, and it won't fire at you. And also, don't be scared at the variety of guns inside. 50 is the least we got."

"Many guns?"

"It's an enthusiast's paradise."

"Got it. Anything else?"

"Nope, that's about everything. Did you grab the computer?"

"My backpack, sir," Frisk replies, patting the device.

"Alright, so we should be good to go. Also, last piece of advice, don't get lost. I haven't been here in forever and some guys may wish to speak to me. If you feel too out of place, go straight to the second floor, to the projector room. Just ask someone if you can't find it. I can tour you later."

"Got it."

The two guys step out of the car just inside the gates, directing themselves to the top of the hill where the LASPOD HQ stands. The parking lot is far from it, Munro explains, because, in case of emergency, many vehicles would need a clear path down, and that wouldn't be possible with cars in their only way down.

So, an almost kilometric walk up the lightly steep hill it is. Apparently, in a change of shifts, a truck goes up the hill, taking operators to their training building and office. But this isn't a change of shifts, leaving the senior operator and the rookie officer walking.

"This path is used for training. Can you see yourself walking up and down it three times while singing the LASPOD military anthem? I can, and hell, I did it many times in 27 years. A time that doesn't come back. I miss work."

"Why did you leave? Aren't senior operators supposed to work as dispatchers?"

"The senior of all senior operators is supposed to coordinate the entire battalion, the ones below are either experts of something or dispatchers. I'm third in the line of succession to being a Colonel, guess why? My name. Initial, you know? The current Colonel and the second-in-command graduated with me. But one is operator Hector and the other is operator Alan. Needless to say, the 'M' is a bit far from that. Our class graduated 15 operators, there's only us left."

"Damn."

"It's life. Animals die. I, however, don't know how I made it this far. I was always the first one in tactical positioning. If a bullet was supposed to catch someone, that someone should be me."

"You got lucky."

"No, they caught me! Just couldn't bring me down," he chuckles, a hint of pride in his voice. "Shot four times, stabbed another two. But of course, it was before I learned crab maga. It's the self-defense fighting technique of the Iguaneli army."

"That's really awesome. Do you guys train here?"

"Classes are separated by size, but positive, officer."

"Think you could... teach me a couple moves?"

"Gladly."

* * *

When they finally reach the main building, Frisk is panting. Munro is slightly amused by that, so he gently pats his fellow officer's back before, side by side, they walk into the HQ.

"Main entry that is, at the same time, general training room, dressing room, and garage. Well, to those four forgotten motorcycles over there it is. Cars and bulletproof vehicles stay outside."

"Belleville!"

"And so it begins. Alex, how good to see you!" He moves over to the salamander. "How's everything, man?"

"Well, it just went from 20 to 100 'cause I didn't think I'd ever see you out of your nest again! But damn, I thought you were gonna start working out!"

"What do you mean?"

"You're fat," the operator laughs. Munro joins in.

"No! Ah, I barely recognized you, third Orca sister."

Alex lets out a louder laugh before motioning for him. "Take it easy. Rookies are all over the place today. I'm training them today."

"Did you piss Wright off again?"

"Left the gate open."

"You're joking."

"Yes. Ha!" They laugh again before he acknowledges Frisk. "Oh, did you bring in a ninth recruit?" He asks, taking a step forward.

Munro just chuckles. "Captain Miller, Officer Frisk of the LAMAOD. Officer Frisk, Captain Miller of the LASPOD."

"Nice meeting you, sir-" Frisk begins, extending his hand.

"Wassup." The operator replies, quickly saluting. Frisk almost immediately retreats his hand.

"Or you can… greet like that, ahem." He returns the salute.

"At ease, Officer," he chuckles. "Nice meeting you. You can just call me Alex like this old fart does."

Munro elbows his side. Frisk laughs. "Alright, Captain Alex. And a quick question… your 'Alex' stands for 'Alexander'?"

"Positive."

"We got the same name, then."

"Your name's Alexander?" Munro asks. He nods.

"Alexander William Frisk, sir."

"Aren't you just full of surprises. I could swear your first name was Peter!"

"That's my dad's name." He laughs.

"Damn! Well, one can only get so close."

"Miller, come on!" Another operator comes into sight, an iguana this time, who whistles loudly, startling all animals.

"Hey, pipe down! Our visitor's got sensitive ears." Alex says, pointing over to Munro.

"Belleville! It's been years!"

"What's up, Davis! What's shaking?"

"In a big hurry, me and Miller." He comes closer, shooting his colleague a stare. "It's time for underwater training, there are two guys about to cry because they think we'll drown them."

"Damn. Gotta go back." He turns to the animals in front of him. "Smack some sense into them. Frisk, nice meeting you. Davis, Officer Frisk."

Davis salutes. "Officer."

"Belleville, nice seeing you again, we'll see you again soon. And don't forget to see the Colonel. Bastard won't shut up about you."

"He misses me that much, uh?"

"More like you spoiled him with your skills. He keeps saying how good you are with guns or tactical operations. Frisk, you're being trained by the best."

Frisk smiles and nods. "I know."

The two active operators walk away, but not before yelling to upstairs that Munro was there.

* * *

A lot of meets and greets later, both Munro and Frisk are walking down the corridor to the projector room.

"A room for an eventual public defendant that comes by, chilling room, interrogation room..," Munro describes at the pace they pass each room. "And projector room."

"That's awesome."

"Rookie." Munro laughs. "Always cool the first time you see it."

"Can you blame me? This place is like… legendary to any police officer or any branch in the country."

"Well..." He sounds a lot prouder now. "Wouldn't doubt. We're _that_ good, after all. I saw this being built. A bit magical, if you ask me."

"You graduated the first class here, correct?"

He nods. "I did. When I first laid foot here, this was all ground. Not a building in sight. And then, decades later, I see a full training and dispatching HQ that even counts with a bulletproof evidence room."

"Bulletproof evidence room..." Frisk says to himself, a bit reflectively.

Munro doesn't quite catch it as he goes on. "Yeah, I know what you're gonna say, police has always had them. But the 'always' is recent. When I joined, criminals were afraid of the police. Now they leave stations laughing at us. Curse Animal Rights."

He sounds so much enraged and is clasping his fists so tightly by the end of his speech that Frisk can't help but gulp. _For a koala, he does sound scary._ He gives the operator's shoulder a friendly pat, letting out a laugh. "Hey, it only adds up to the job, doesn't it, Mun?"

Munro stops dead in his tracks. "Mun?" Frisk freezes until the man laughs. "That's how my wife calls me."

"Oh, you're married?" He nods, pulling out his phone and showing the otter a picture of himself and Laura.

"Well, engaged, that is. To the most beautiful gal in the world."

"What's her name?"

"Laura."

"It's a beautiful name."

"The most beautiful." He states, already getting immersed in his thoughts. A golden glimpse catches his eye, making him look briefly at the officer's hand. "What about that, Frisk? Do you have a special someone in your life?"

Frisk looks at his own wedding ring and twists it a little. "Yes, I do. Oh… Aspen. We got a baby on the way."

Munro almost chokes in his own tongue as he opens the door to the projector room. "A baby?! Frisk, how old are you?!"

"I'm 23."

"23?! You're a kid!"

"I heard that one before, sir," he laughs out.

"Holy c- when my daughter was born, I was..." He scratches his head. "Oh, 25. I wasn't that much older. Nevermind what I just said. Congrats! It's a boy or a girl?"

"Girl. Valerie. If everything goes as planned, due three months from now."

"Hey, don't forget to invite me to be the godfather, alright?" Munro walks forward, fist bumping another koala operator who was in charge of the video room. "I always wanted to say I am someone's godfather. You know, because of the movie."

"What movie?- Oh, The Godfalcon. Nice one." Munro bows. The two of them take a seat as Frisk plops his backpack onto the table. "So, how are we doing this?"

"We sit back and watch. On speed 4, so it doesn't take too long. Our bud here, Sergeant..."

"Smith, sir."

"Smith will do the connecting the computer to the projector and the like."

"Got it. Oh, and Munro? A quick question?"

"Go on."

"The images that serve as evidence, testimonies, the all from this case in particular. Where are they being stored again..?"

 


	13. Images and Operators

"Freeze that one. Enlarge. Can you make a face outta that?"

"No, sir," the rookie koala says, running the image through the system. "Can't even identify his species."

"Damn. Alright, play."

Frisk's eyes are just this close to totally snapping shut and allowing him into blissful sleep. He lost count of how many hours he has already spent in this room, looking into 10,800 hours of footage, from 15 different cameras. Speed 4 was now too slow for him. The windowless room made him lose track of how the sky outside looked.

"Frisk? Frisk!" Munro says, leaning in and lightly shaking the otter. "Officer, on the ground, 20 push-ups!" He belts out, pushing him to the ground. "Begin!"

Frisk jolts awake, falling off his chair. He plants his two hands on the ground, beginning the exercise.

"Faster, you lazy fart! One, two, three, four! What comes after four? Restart! One, two, three, four! Uh... restart! One, two, three..." Frisk could hardly believe it. Was Munro serious? If he couldn't count past four, he'd be down on the ground doing push-ups forever! His arms are just about to give out when the operator pushes him down on the ground, making his body crash with a loud _thump!_ "That's enough! Are you awake now, officer?!"

"Y-yes..," he replies, faceplanting into the ground.

"Are you, now?! So do another ten, now! Position!" Frisk weakly puts his hands on the ground once again, already quivering. "Alright, begin! One..!" And just as he's about to say 'two', Frisk collapses, panting. Munro kneels down, sending his hand crashing down on the otter's back. "Go home 01, you're weak! You'll never make it in here!"

Frisk props himself up with his arms and looks up at him. Where the hell had all of that come from? He's gasping for breath and is, quite frankly, mildly terrified. Munro was an old guy, and old guys typically don't sound like police instructors! And aren't as scary as them, either! He slowly stands up, still trying to breathe. "What… why do I gotta… leave..?"

Munro stares, once again pushing him down. "Because you are weak!"

"Ow! Stop it!"

The senior pushes him back into his chair before laughing. "Damn, I missed doing this!"

The rookie koala in charge of the projector laughs along. "Good training days. I was so afraid of Miller!"

Munro's gasping for breath as he laughs. He tries to stop it, but an even weirder sound comes out. Frisk watches the entire scene confused. The more he tries to suppress the sound, the weirder it comes out. "Did you… did you see his face? I missed seeing this face! I used to terrify rookies pretending that I couldn't count!"

"Wait… what?" He gets pulled into his laughing partner's arms in no time. "What was this about?!"

"This..." Munro begins, wiping a couple tears of laughter away. "Was you being pranked, my buddy!"

"Oh, come on!"

"Also, a free sample of how we treat our recruits. Iron fists. Welcome!"

"Why would you do this?!"

"Old instincts kicking in," he simply replies. "I'm sorry, but not much! Let's keep looking at the images." His phone vibrates in his pocket, so he picks it up. "You may want to let your wife know you're alright. Laura's already calling me."

"Outside, please." The rookie pipes up. "It interferes in the projector."

"It shouldn't."

"It's old."

"So am I! Alright, outside we go." He opens the door, rushing himself and his fellow officer to the outside of the room.

* * *

"Bathroom, where is it?" Frisk asks. Munro points to a door at the other end of the corridor before turning to the other side and answering his phone.

Just as he begins talking, Frisk goes down the hall, but not straight to the bathroom. He walks down the corridor slowly, peeking into every room with an open door or glassy walls. From what he makes out, there is a training room with many operators practicing, a break room with a couple of them chilling out (sleeping, he notices), but most of them are on the first floor. Seniors chatting away or coordinating exercises, rookies practicing. A few steps later, there is the dispatch center, and straight ahead, the bathroom.

But before that, there is another room. Enclosed. Shady, if you ask Frisk. No identification on the door, but you don't need to be experienced to know what it is. He even thinks about walking past it. However, he can't forget why he is here. He scans the corridor from one side to another. The animals who had been training were now gathered in a circle of some sort. Special Operations thing, he figured. Sure, on the other side of the corridor there is Munro, but he's too immersed in his phone conversation to mind whatever that is happening around him. Slowly, he touches the knob. Then turns it. Click. Uh. No sirens, alarms, or animals running in his direction. He takes this as his cue to go on.

* * *

He hit the jackpot. In front of him, there is a small table with a computer, and behind it, a closed door. On its side, a button pad. Well, just like in the conventional precincts, the evidence room is guarded with a password.

"What are you doing here?!" Frisk freezes like a deer in headlights. He slowly turns to the source of the sound. "Are you deaf?!"

He slowly shakes his head as he lets the appearance of the animal in front of him sink in. Nowhere similar to any other operator he had seen there. He seems… weak. Fragile even, though fully dressed in the black operational LASPOD uniform. He bares clutches, and a lower glance allows Frisk to see why: the operator, an otter just like himself, is crippled. He doesn't have his right leg.

Frisk looks up once again, straight at the animal's name tag. _Maj A. Fergunson._ Oh, a Major. Senior operator. A rank higher than Munro. Well, it explained the greying brown fur and the injury too. He did have a long time to get hurt. He slowly looks up at his face again. Fergunson is staring at him as if he had grown a second head.

"What… what happened to your leg..?" He finally asks, pointing down. The other otter follows his finger, looking straight at his own leg.

"Shot. Straight in the knee." With a swift move, he balances himself on one leg and draws his gun. "Who are you and what are you doing here?!"

Frisk is taken aback by this, quickly jumping to the ground as he raises his hands. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, calm down! I-I'm a cop!"

"What precinct?!"

"T-the LAMAOD!" He goes down on his knees. "Don't shoot! I was looking for a bathroom!"

"Does this look like a goddamn toilet to you?!"

"N-no, I'm sorry! I'll go, just don't shoot me!" He begs. The senior slowly puts the gun down back in its holster.

"Stand up!" he commands.

"Yes, sir!" Frisk replies, quickly following the order. Well, the guy pulled a gun on him when he wasn't close to being a threat. Imagine if he was angered at him.

"How did you get here, LAMAOD officer?"

"I-I'm with Munro, sir… u-uh… Captain Belleville..?"

The man lets out heartfelt laughter. "Munro 'Belle and the Beast' Belleville is here?!"

"Y-yes, sir, in the projector room," Frisk confirms. "Do you know him?"

"Know him? I worked with him for 27 years! He's the best strategist I've ever seen around here."

"I-I'm sorry, a quick question..? Two, actually?"

Fergunson sighs. "Be brief, recruit."

"What is this room?"

"It's an evidence room. It works in the exact same way your precinct's does. It's thick walls holding a crapload of evidence."

"What kind?"

"Evidence from all cases that get here." Frisk isn't quite satisfied with the answer. The operator notices that, so he goes on. "Let's see… gang mugshots and their record, some murder evidence, murder attempt files, drug dealers case files, among other classified info." Frisk's eyes are a mix of curiosity and not being fully satisfied. The other otter sighs. "Wanna take a look? I just can't let you read anything still open. So you'll basically see case files from 'me with my leg' days."

"That would be cool!" Frisk says enthusiastically. He quickly thinks it over. "Well… not the leg part, sorry about your leg. W-well… it'd be awesome!" Turning away slightly, he grabs a small recorder, then puts it in his shirt's pocket. The operator doesn't pay much mind to it, being busy with his own locomotion to the closed door. Frisk is quick to offer him an arm. "You need..?"

"I've been doing this for thirteen years." Frisk retreats. He reaches out. "But this one time, I'll take it."

"Right away, sir." The officer quickly moves over and takes his arm, slowly walking him to the door.

"Thanks, recruit. Now turn around." Frisk does as told. The operator types an eight digit password into the pad, which beeps. All sounds are being closely captured by Frisk's recorder.

* * *

Frisk walks in, carefully turning off the recorder in his pocket. Well, he doesn't have a tape with the password, but he has the distinctive sound each key pressed made before allowing entry.

"It's not much different than a precinct's room," he comments.

"You don't have to lie to me." Frisk looks down. "It's a mess because no one has the patience to organize all this old crap. And also, cases here are bound to be way more exciting than the ones you see there. The older they are, the deeper into the room." Frisk motions to a big pile of papers, then looks at him. He nods. "Go ahead."

"Fergie, you dog!"

"Belleville! What's up, bud?!"

"You found my officer friend."

"Yeah, and I pointed a gun at his face too." Fergunson laughs. "Just trying to make him feel at home."

"You did well. Officers need a shock of reality every once in a while. Showing him our old stuff?"

"What else?"

Munro peeks beyond his longtime friend, straight at the officer. "Look under 'B'! You may learn a thing or two from my old cases!"

Fergunson turns to the other otter. "Don't count on it. Many of them are in huge files mixed with other stuff, and probably many more are missing. Much was lost in the 1989 fire. Seriously, somebody's got to sit down and organize this. Put it in the computer. We'll end up losing our record because of this!"

"There was a fire?" Frisk asks. Both seniors nod. "But police stations have smoke detectors."

"Do people point guns at officers in police stations?" Munro asks.

"No, sir."

"Are officers in police stations organized by military hierarchy?"

"No, sir."

"Are there operators in police stations?"

"No, sir."

"So this isn't a conventional police station and shouldn't be treated as one. Understood?"

"Yes, sir," Frisk replies.

"The governor didn't seem to mind the fire at all, anyways. There aren't any smoke detectors still."

"True. Even getting that old PC with Windogs 95 was a battle. We should require more modern equipment from the governor," the other operator pipes up.

"Won't work. All white collars in Calatonia hate the police. And you double that hate when we're talking about Special Operations. They think we're savages and don't need that stuff. It's good in a way. It shapes our men to value all the small commodities from their lives out of here. And since our training is so hard, too…"

"True," his friend confirms, giving him a thumbs up. "Combatants forged in fire to defend and protect."

"Special Operations, oorah!" They say in unison, then let out a laugh. Frisk joins them.

"Well, as soon as I'm Chief, I'll see if I can spare some erm… how did you define it, commodities, to the LASPOD."

"Go on and do that." Munro gives his shoulder a friendly pat.

"If I ever become Colonel, I'll happily receive it," the Major jokes.

"'If you become', of _course_ you'll become." The other operator laughs.

"The cases in these files around here are how old?"

"Thirty years, some fifteen. The physical evidence and papers on shelves are around that old. As for newer cases, like I said, we have that old Windogs PC in the back. Why?"

 _No smoke detectors, all files in the same room… very, very nice._ "No reason. Just curious."

 


	14. Training and Targets

* * *

"Alright, walking towards the target! Hold… hold… FIRE!" The instructor commands. Eight recruits, divided into pairs, fire at the two targets ahead of them. "FIRE! Hold… FIRE!"

"Damn." Frisk overlooks the action from higher in the LASPOD hill.

"Don't fool yourself. An actual progression is very different. What surprises me is that this year, only medium-sized animals applied to the course."

"The koala is going straight to the head," he comments.

"Not for long," Munro replies, quickly covering his right ear and whistling to the graduated operator in charge of the training. "Miller!"

"At ease, recruits!" He yells to the group. They immediately stop and stand in linear formation, saluting. Miller runs over to the koala and otter. "Yes?"

"That koala is firing right at the head of the targets!"

"She is?" Miller asks, scratching his head and rubbing his eyes a little.

"She? Is it a girl? Well… yeah, she is. This isn't sniper training, she should be firing at the chest. And just see the badger. He isn't firing at the target at all! How was his eyesight test?"

"20/20, you know that."

"Well, he either needs glasses or to be turned off! Or maybe he's just being a clown. I can't shoo bad eyesight away, but I know how to deal with clowns. Also, didn't you use some glasses that-?"

"Pipe down!" The operator sighs. "My daughter was toying around with them and accidentally broke them." Munro cracks up laughing. "Yeah, alright. Laugh at my lack of eyesight."

"Oh my… oh, sorry, Miller, but it's too funny not to laugh at!" He takes a deep breath, collecting himself. "Okay."

"Since you're so bloody smart, wanna handle them?"

"I thought you'd never ask!" He jumps forward, patting his friend's back. "But, correct me if I'm wrong… we have no females working in the LASPOD. Not even in administration or aid."

"That's right."

"That koala girl right ahead is taking the actual operator course, not the administration one. She doesn't look like a doctor either. She's joining as an operator. The first female operator in the LASPOD."

"Yeah, problem?"

"How's she doing in the course, is she good?"

"Munro, she's 20." The koala makes a disgusted face at his friend's implication.

"And I'm engaged." He waves his ring hand in front of the guy's face. "Freak. I'm just happy to think that the first gal here may be my species, that's all."

"She has the highest intelligence tests score among them and is second best of class, overall."

"Alright, consider her my protegé! All in for her!"

"Wonder how Laura's going to feel about that," Miller sing-songs.

"She'll be happy a girl made it into the LASPOD."

"She didn't make it in here yet. But you just hope, don't you?"

"Absolutely. Now tell me… who's the crook?"

"08."

"Oh, the clown? I get the full package?!" The captain mocks, walking ahead.

Miller starts laughing as he takes a step forward to join Frisk. "Just you watch. This is gonna be good."

"08!" Munro belts out at the recruits.

Said recruit takes a step forward. "Yes, sir!" He says, saluting.

"You're an animal!" He takes a step forward and harshly smacks the other animal in the face. "You think I haven't seen you purposely miss your target?! You think no one here knows that you get money from dealers?! You're a crook, 08, and you'll be going home! I'll make you!" He takes a step forward and trips the recruit, then proceeding to slap him. "Ask to go! Give up!"

"No, sir!" The recruit tries to dodge the several slaps the best he can.

"You piece of dirt! Stay away from my battalion!" he says, continuously hitting him.

Frisk and Miller watch from a distance. "See? This is how every crook should be treated."

Frisk gulps. "A-agreed, sir."

Between one provocation and another, the badger recruit raises his hands in surrender. "I give up! I quit!"

Munro immediately stops hitting him, takes his rifle, and lifts it above his own head before yelling back to the building. "08 gave up! 08 is out!" All operators who were watching from the windows cheer as Munro goes yet on, taunting the quitter. "Go home, 08, you're weak!"

The badger throws his camouflaged hat embroidered with the number '08' to the ground, going past their spectators. Miller looks proud as he laughs, while Frisk just looks away. The quitter stops dead in his tracks when he sees Frisk and frowns at him. The otter shoots him a sheepish smile.

"Do you got a problem, 08?"

He keeps eyeing Frisk with anger as he goes past the two of them. "No, sir. No problem at all."

Frisk and Miller just turn back to the training site.

"The remaining… at ease! Front to… rear!" he emphasizes the last word.

The recruits jump and fall straight into position. "Special Operations!" they bellow.

"You'll never be! None of you will!" Munro yells back, pointing at each of them. He looks straight at the only girl present. Her look is impassive and fierce, even under his provocation, and he can't help but be impressed. "Recruits… at ease! 02, stay behind! 20 push-ups!" The koala girl takes a step forward and gets down to the ground, but before she starts, he stops her, looking at the student standing behind her. "23! You're not using your shoulder strap, buddy?"

The recruit, a fox, quickly scans his gun and his body before looking at him. "No, sir."

"So you don't have your shoulder strap on. I mean, if your partner collapses to the ground injured, what are you gonna do with the rifle? Drop it to the ground?"

"No, sir." the recruit says, unaffected.

Munro is deeply irritated by his lack of interest. "Shove it up your butt?!" he belts out.

"No, sir!" he replies, slightly altered.

"So put the goddamn strap on!" The student mutters a silent 'yes, sir' before following the command and keeping his eyes fixed on the ground. "Damn. 20 years in the course, damn it! At ease, I said, what are you all doing here? Got no home to go to?!"

All male recruits quickly scatter at his words, directing themselves downhill, leaving the senior and the female behind. She, still on the ground, begins her 20 push-ups sequence. Munro quickly taps her shoulder, motioning for her to stand up. In a swift move, she stands up, disarms her gun, and salutes him. He smiles, nodding at her. "At ease, 02. Or should I say, Miss..?"

"Campbell. Rebecca Campbell, sir. Captain…" she squints her eyes to read his tag. "Belleville."

"Name's Munro, it's beautiful, so use it."

Rebecca giggles. "Captain Munro."

"Much better. Get your rifle and come back here with me." He sets up a target in the shape of a fox, then walks towards the building, being followed closely by her. They silently walk up to the gates of the HQ, where he turns to her. "Do you have a silencer?" She nods, taking the device out of her pocket and quickly equipping the gun. "Very good. Now, walk towards the target and fire at the target I just set up. Oh, and also…" She positions herself, but he lowers the rifle and unequips its scope. "You won't be using this."

"But… how am I going to aim?"

"You have eyes. Use them. Walk towards the target and fire at my order. Understood?"

"Yes, sir." She positions herself once again, keeping the gun aimed at the target's head, before walking towards it. Munro follows her, holding the scope to his eye. "Fire!" The girl goes down on one knee and shoots. She misses, but Munro doesn't say a word. Another few steps are taken. "Fire!" She kneels, fires, and, once again, misses. "Fire!" he says immediately after. The result is the same. "At ease!" Rebecca stands up, locks the gun, and salutes him. "Recruit… you missed all the three shots you fired. You, lass, are the worst recruit I've ever seen in my life!"

"B-but…"

"But nothing!" He aggressively takes the rifle out of her hands. "Give it here! I'll show ya how it's really done!" He walks back to their starting point. "Go!" Rebecca slowly tags along with him, silent all the way. Munro keeps waiting for her cue, but it never comes. "I'll fire at your cue, bimbo! Command, and watch my shot through the scope!"

She quickly places the scope in her right own eye. "Fire!" Munro kneels down and fires. He misses it, he knows, but she says nothing. "Fire!" He misses once again, and a third time after that. He locks the gun, then proceeds to salute and put the rifle in 'shoulder-gun' position: his right arm, flexed, holds the gun on his right side, while his other arm stays stiff at his left side. He waits for her verdict with a proud expression on his face.

"So, you see… you… kinda… missed the three shots, too."

"What?!" He says threateningly, raising his voice. She takes a step back.

"W-well… you did! I… check the target!" she replies in a frightened tone, offering him the scope. His expression softens and he shakes his head.

"I know I missed them." he begins, simply. "Alright, take a deep breath. It's okay. There's nothing wrong in missing the head. Hell… sniping from far is hard enough without trying to play lucky and doing it without a scope. But that's not the point here. Tell me… why is it that you told me so kindly that I missed when I just exploded on you because you missed?"

"I… I don't know…"

"There's gotta be something. Come on… hierarchy? Because I'm a guy? An old guy, maybe? What is it?"

"I… I guess it's just me…"

"No, it isn't 'just you'. Because you were impassive to my provocations back in the formation with your colleagues and I can tell you're passionate about special ops. So again, why is it that you were intimidated by me?"

"You… you're a little scary."

"And isn't Miller?" he chuckles. "Well, let me say I'll be tad bit scarier than most guys you'll find here. But I think that's not all. Because well… you were doing the exercise different from everybody else and didn't ask for clarification from Miller. And a quick something here, you could've gotten seriously injured holding the rifle the way you were. We don't use assault rifles in these situations for nothing. What you were doing is more suitable for sniper training. You don't have to be afraid of us just because we're your superiors. I know we can get scary, but we'll do no harm. And being afraid of your superiors has no place here. You oughta listen to our outbursts with your head raised. Got a doubt, ask for help. If Miller, or I, or whoever else reacts badly, hold your ground. We like that. Strong operators, physically and emotionally. Don't cower up. You got me?"

"Yes, sir," she replies, giving him a small smile and salute.

He quickly salutes back, returning her smile. "At ease, recruit."

* * *

"How did it go?"

"It went great. But these LASPOD guys are nuts, I swear."

"News," the bear says, coldly. "Did you find out where the images are kept?"

"Yeah. In a room in the back of the building. Bulletproof."

"What else is in there?"

"Every evidence piece from every case the LASPOD has ever worked with, minus some things that were destroyed in a fire many years ago. Apparently, the room has been a big mess ever since. I don't know how can they find anything in there."

"Are the images there already?"

"Yeah. Munro dropped them there after finding some faces in there. Mike's, yours'..."

Dmitri leans into the table. "I'm confused. Is he after us or after Mike?"

"I'd say both. He has this crazy theory that you only went after Moon because of Mike."

"Your friend's got the right lead," Dmitri confirms. "If Mike hadn't said Moon had his money, none of this would've happened."

"Speaking of which." the boss interrupts. "How's the mouse hunt going?"

"I placed a missing report with the LASAOD. Major Jones took over it."

"Emily Jones, the hamster?"

"Yeah. Do you know her?"

"She owes us a favor," he says bluntly. "Tell her to hurry up."

"I will."

"Now talking business… do you have a safe route inside the Special Operations headquarters?"

"Well… the route through the gates. It's safer."

"No, you idiot!" he says, smacking the table. "The building is guarded by armed animals 24/7, you walk in there just like that and you'll be dead before you know what hit you!"

"He wants to know how do you plan on getting inside," Dmitri comments.

"Getting inside… to do what?"

Silence falls upon the table. The boss grins a wicked smile. The other two just look mildly concerned.

"He'll screw up," Dmitri states. The boss merely shakes his head, pushing the bear away slightly.

"No. He's just… perfect. He gained trust from the operators."

Frisk gulps slightly, looking up at the huge animals in front of him. "What… what are you talking about?"

The boss leans in, stares at the officer for a moment, before finally speaking with a smile on his face. "You, Frisk, will set the LASPOD's evidence room on fire."


	15. Molotovs and Dates

* * *

"Count me out."

"You aren't being given an option, Frisk."

"I'm not setting fire to a police station! Especially with how crazy those guys are!"

"You said they didn't have smoke detectors."

"And they don't! Their building is crap! They don't even have alarms to dispatch vehicles in case of an emergency. But they're trained!"

"You can handle them." The boss states, standing up. "I'm going to get you a Molotov. Come back here with me."

Frisk's palms are sweaty, he keeps twisting his hands, desperately trying to release some of the growing anxiety. _Come on, just tell them… you can't be afraid of them forever._ "Find someone else to do it." He says, loud enough for them to hear. All eyes in the room fall upon him. He had done it. Frisk can even hear his quickened heartbeat over the loud music on the first floor.

"What did you just say?" The officer shuts his eyes. Slowly, the bear moves towards the table, his gigantic form towering over Frisk. He takes heavy steps, walking threateningly around the officer. He puts a large claw on the gun on his waist. Frisk immediately puts his hands up, shaking, and the boss can't help but find it amusing. The other bears corner the table to hide the scene from curious eyes. "Who do you think you are, Frisk..?" He takes a seat, altho it doesn't put the officer at ease in a minimum. He pulls out the gun from its holster, toying with it. He points it at the otter. He shrieks, trying to dodge it.

"I-I have a family…"

"Keep it down, Frisk…" the bear extends his hand, putting the gun in the otter's mouth. "We don't want anyone to hear this… do we?"

Frisk wants to ask for help. Scream. But he does neither of those things.

"N-no, we don't…"

"You're a cop. Have you ever heard about the hierarchy of command?" Frisk nods. "Let me put it in the gang context for you. I tell you what to do… and you do it! Is that understood?!"

"F-fully."

"Good," he says, putting the gun back on its holster. "Now let's go get that Molotov."

* * *

"I got chills, they're multiplying! And I'm losing control!" Munro walks inside dancing, happily singing the old hit. The two girls on the couch look over at him. He merely trots over to his fiancée, trying to hold his laughter back when he strikes a pose, hands on his hips and the all. Damn, he must really be a deplorable sight. "'Cause the power you're supplying, is electrifying!" And with that, he pretends to have been electrocuted, and falls back, eyes closed.

Ash just looks over at Laura, weirded out. The older woman just looks unamused as she rolls her eyes.

"Are you drunk?"

"What, can't I serenade the love of my life?"

"It's half past midnight, Munro."

"No, it's half past 11." he shows his watch. She stares at him. "And we started daylight savings time yesterday and I forgot to adjust my watch. Damn it. I... sorry."

Laura opens her arms. He quickly waves to Ash before going into his fiancée's arms. "I was worried sick about you."

"Sorry. I lost track of time and ended up in an area that doesn't have the best signal… but I'm happy! I found Mike in those cameras."

"That's good, love."

"Now, all I gotta do is place a search for him with the LASAOD and find the password. Ash! How fast is Moon's recovery coming along, uh?"

"He's doing way better," the porcupine replies.

"Good to hear! Man… those bears are not gonna know what hit them!" Munro cheers with a laugh. He leans down and pecks Laura's forehead, which she rewards with a faint smile. His ears lower. "What is it, love..?"

She fixes her hair, taking a deep breath. "Nothing." she sighs out. "It's just that… you go out, come back late, don't call me or leave a message or anything… and I just sit here worried thinking that something happened to you."

"Ash, look away for a sec, please? And cover your ears too?" The teen does as told. Munro is quick to hug Laura once again, keeping her in his vice grip as he kisses her. She gasps in surprise, but soon returns his kiss. Their tongues dance in a passionate embrace that isn't broken before a full minute passes. By then, he's on her lap, and she's already gripping the collar of his shirt. Aware, she quickly lowers her hand. He gently touches her cheek, caressing it with his thumb. She leans into his hand. "You know no one messes with Special Ops. Especially not with an old guy like me."

"Accidents happen."

He ponders over his next words carefully. "They are enough of a rarity for me not to consider them a possibility."

She giggles. "That's poetic."

"Just like me. Am I not pure poetry?" She just chuckles, leaning in to peck his lips. "Hey, how about we go out?"

"Go out… at almost one in the morning. Out where?"

"I don't know. Out to a… nice restaurant, a candlelight dinner."

Laura laughs, gently pushing him and standing up. "Yeah, right."

"I'm serious! What's stopping us?" He goes over to Ash, uncovering one of her ears. "We're done. Can I get a little help here?"

"With what?" she asks.

"He wants to take us out," Laura replies.

"That sounds cool." Munro laughs, fist-pumping into the air. Laura just facepalms, looking at the teen. "Where would we go?"

"On a candlelight dinner date," he replies. "Like… we'd go. It's not exactly a teen's dream night to be a third wheel, right?" he finishes with a laugh. The porcupine awkwardly laughs along. Laura quickly catches up on that.

"But you're always welcome. That is, if you wanna go. You'll be welcome." Munro goes to say something, but she cuts him off. "And you know what? It sounds fun. A three-way dinner. Will you go?"

Munro tries to speak up, but a quick death glare from Laura prevents him from doing so. Ash just shrugs awkwardly. "Well… yeah, I can go."

"Great! Meet you at the front. 10 minutes enough for you?"

"Y-yeah, it's good. But really, if you guys want some privacy, I don't really gotta go. I'll be fine."

"No, what's that," Laura says with a smile. "You're great company. It'll be fun to have you there."

* * *

"I can't believe you did this."

"In case you don't know, _Munro_ ," Laura emphasizes his name sarcastically as she dresses up, "sometimes, pointing out the obvious is rude. She knew you meant only the two of us. But you pointing that out was rude."

"Yeah, alright. Wasn't the best move on my part. But did you have to insist?" He lightly pleads.

"And let her sit here all night feeling left out?"

"She wouldn't feel like left out." She glares at him. "I mean, why would she? I think she'll be way more left out in the middle of our date."

"' _Our date'?_ " She raises her eyebrows, looking over at her fiancé. He's just done adjusting his leather suit on his shoulders and is looking pointedly at her. With a sigh, she walks up to him. "Our date is the three of us, tonight."

"It was supposed to be a couple thing."

"I wasn't planning on inviting her," she whispers. "But come on, Munro, for once think about it. You brought it up. When you asked for her help, she immediately picked up on the fact that it'd be the two of us. You didn't need to say that out loud. But now, leaving her here would just make her feel like a burden."

"How, exactly?" Laura just gives him a pointed look and walks up to him, gently straightening his shirt. Munro sighs in defeat, he knows he can't argue with her.

"It can be fun if we don't make a big deal out of it. Okay?"

* * *

"That's not how it happened."

"Yeah, right," she says with a smirk, sipping on her drink.

"I didn't faint! I'm a heavy sleeper! It had been a 74-hour shift, I was beyond tired."

"So…" Laura pauses to emphasize her point. "You fainted. I couldn't get you out of that floor until the following night!"

Munro just stares at her boredly. "Alright, if you wanna call that any word other than 'slept'... can we agree on 'passed out'?"

"Fine by me. I'll extend that courtesy to you," she says, with an exaggerated hand gesture. He frowns. Laura just leans in closer, gently pecking his lips, before they smile at one another. Breaking the glance, she takes a peek at their other companion. Ash has her head cradled in one of her arms, face half-litted by the weak candle on the table, her hand idly fiddling with her wine glass.

The girl didn't seem to be listening to anything they were saying - besides, Laura noted, having hardly sipped on her drink. Her glass was half-empty, and Ash's hand kept carefully balancing it, her fingertips, at times, circling the rim. Laura studied the girl in front of her for a moment. Ash's eyes seemed hypnotized by the continuous move.

"I guess we bored Ash to death," Munro comments with a laugh. She follows.

"Yeah. Not many teens want to hear a bunch of old stories that they didn't even take part in."

"Or weren't born yet when they took place." The two share another laugh, then looking over at the teen in question. Doesn't take long for Ash to feel their eyes on her, and so, she lifts her head with a jolt.

"W… what is it?"

Laura just chuckles, gently taking the girl's hand. "Nothing. I was just wondering if you have any funny stories to share."

"Not… really. Sorry."

"Oh, come on. Everybody has stories. Share some with us," she insists.

The teen quietly adjusts herself in her seat. "Well… alright. This one happened during the tour. I don't know if I told you, but I traveled with three other musicians."

"You didn't. Did you know that?" She looks over at Munro.

"Nah, but you can kinda figure it out. Tours are never solo, there's always someone playing before you or after you," he replies, uninterestedly sipping on his drink.

"True. Anyways…" she looks back at Ash. "Carry on. What were their names?"

"Aaron, Lucy, and Fred. Fred we just called 'Frisk'. He kept saying that Fred wasn't a rocker's name and insisted we used his stage name," she says, laughing.

"Frisk? That's the name of the officer who's working with me…" Munro comments, a bit absentminded.

Ash just chuckles. "Well, if he has anything to do with Frisk the rocker, you're having a very good time."

"Frisk's a nerd. A well-intentioned… well... _frisky_ one, but a nerd nonetheless." He says the last phrase with a laugh. "I thought he was going to have a heart attack when I brought him into the LASPOD. But hey, that's another story. Go on. Sorry I interrupted."

"Where was I?"

"Aaron, Lucy…" Laura begins.

"And Fred." Ash interrupts. "I'm just going to call him Frisk from now on." She clears her throat. "Okay, so… heh… it feels a bit awkward, but… w-well, one day, the guys were… drinking, drinking and smoking, you know?"

"Weed?" Munro asks, his eyebrow raised. Ash nods, wary. He just shrugs, taking another sip of his drink. "Them and how many animals all over the country. Marijuana has proven to be helpful in treating some diseases, and it isn't illegal here in Calatonia anymore, so I really don't mind. It doesn't bother me." He laughs. "Go on."

Ash nods at him. "Alright. I just thought you might…"

"Not all cops," he interrupts.

"True. Well, anyways… I don't smoke, if you wanna know. And neither does Lucy. The guys, though…" she laughs to herself at the memory. "Frisk is a chimney, and Aaron… well, he smoked, eventually, but not nearly as much as Frisk. So, this one day, we're just getting offstage and changing in the dressing room, when these four guys drag Aaron and Frisk away. Lucy and I figured they might have some of those dude sleepovers, so we went back to the hotel on our own."

"They never change, believe me," Laura jests, shooting Munro a glance.

Ash laughs as she looks from her to him. "Moon does it sometimes, but it's really rare. He usually sleeps over at Eddie's, they spend the night playing videogames and eating junk food. Anyways, we went to the hotel and… just chatted away, 'hey, that last solo was cool!', 'but hey, your back and vocals were the bomb, they made all the difference!', blah, blah, blah. Well, eventually, it got late and Lucy was practically sleepwalking, so she went to bed. I just laid down on the couch, dozing off, when Buster suddenly called me. We tried Pawtiming, but it wouldn't connect. I think we tried a hundred times. And next thing you know..," she has to bite down on her tongue to hold back from laughing, "it just connects in the _exact moment_ the guys barge in yelling!" Laughter emerges from the table as Ash goes yet on, deepening her voice to imitate the screams. "'Ashlynn, I have risen FROM THE SHADOWS! I AM HERE TO FIND A… BEAUTIFUL TRASH CAN!' And he kicked the goddamn thing over!"

By the time she finishes, both Laura and Munro are laughing, and she can't help but join in. It has been a while since she last had a good time, anyways. When their laughter finally starts dying down (and an employee gives them a harsh stare for being too noisy), she looks at the two koalas in front of her.

"Sorry," Munro says, still trying to hold back his laughter. "Just… that voice, that drunken behavior, reminds me of an old friend of mine."

"He must be real fun at parties!" Ash says, prompting the man to laugh once again. Ash chuckles and quickly clears her throat. "Okay, so… I'm there, Lucy's in her room, Moon just connected, and I have my back turned to the door. And when they barge in, they're like… fully dressed in black. Like... completely. Frisk even had black leather gloves on his hands, Pete knows where he got them. And when they open the door, the first thing they do is yell and kick a chair and jump on me. And so, Moon thought-"

"Oh my god!" Laura interrupts. "He thought you were being kidnapped!" she finishes among laughs.

The porcupine quickly taps the table, pointing at the woman. "Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner! And they just take my phone and start yelling at him and it was just so… they were screaming things like 'YO GRUMPY GRAMP!' and all I could hear was Moon freaking out and calling my name on the other side. And Aaron had jumped on me, so I couldn't reach the phone. It took me a small while to throw him off, and when I did, Frisk, all of a sudden, threw the phone at me, and then they ran off to Lucy's room, yelling just as much. And next thing I know, Moon is calling the cops because someone broke into our room!"

"No way."

"Yes. He was giving the hotel's address to a cop and everything, and he was so panicked he hardly listened to me as I told him it was all a prank! Also, I didn't want the police there because weed is illegal down there, and… you know. I didn't want my friends getting busted, plus, underage, and it wouldn't end up well. Anyways…"

"I'm still a cop, Ash…" Munro says, playfully threatening, pretending to show her his badge. "Don't give away too much. I still talk to cops all over this beautiful country."

"Heh! I bet you do. But seriously, it was no big deal. It's not like they bought a lot."

"I'm just joking, Ash," he laughs, taking another sip of his drink. "Go on."

"Okay. Well… I spent some good five minutes calming him down. He kept saying that it might be dangerous to be there, told me not to scare him like that again, tell me that those guys weren't the best influences."

Laura takes another sip of her drink. "And then?"

"That's about it," Ash laughs. "After his ten-minute rant and two-minute break he took to let his heartbeat decrease, we just talked about dumb stuff. He told me about a script he was writing, how he finally had beaten Eddie in Mario Kat, and how he wanted to learn how to drive a car after accidentally crashing Eddie's car a while back. I told him about the tour, the monuments we had seen… oh, and a nice theater we had visited. And then, we just…"

Munro looks over as her expression turns to embarrassment. He and Laura exchange a quick glance before the woman reaches out to touch Ash's wrist. Ash just looks down, avoiding both their glances.

"We just… heh… I don't know. It just feels like a dumb teen thing, but-"

"No way it's dumb if it's important to you," Munro lightly scolds, his eyebrow raised.

"It's not. It's… I don't know, sometimes we do it and it feels a bit silly… you know, sit there and just look at each other and not say a word. It's dumb, right?" she finally looks up at the couple. "Something you see hopelessly in love teens do in romantic movies?"

Laura just laughs. "Alright, if I told you I've done that in every single relationship I've had, would that make it seem less dumb?"

"Same, in all honesty," Munro agrees, shooting her a small smile. "What can I say? Love makes you do weird stuff. People only think it's dumb until they fall."

"Or until they stop overthinking," Laura adds, shooting Ash a look. "Love isn't something to _think about_. It's something to feel. So don't overthink things, okay?"

"Mainly because it never changes. And, often, the people who find it dumb are the ones who do it the most," Munro laughs, pointing to himself. "51." He then points to Laura. "40. If you spend that much time thinking about it, you might end up with a fine headache," he finishes, lightly tapping her shoulder.

This is Ash's turn to laugh. "Alright, I won't. I take back the 'dumb'."

"Good," he says.

"40, though?" Ash looks at Laura once again. The woman nods. "You look much younger."

"Nothing a good diet and exercise won't do," she winks.

"Being lively helps," Munro adds, earning a punch in the shoulder from Laura. He just laughs. "It's true. Plus… genetic component. If I had genes like yours, I wouldn't look like Moon's father when I put glasses on."

"That's not true."

"Yeah, it is. I've seen pictures of your mother. 40-something and kicking it. As for me, both dad and mom had an early fur whitening, no wonder I do too."

"Hey, I think you look handsome."

"Well, duh…" he says cockily, a mischievous grin crossing his features as he points to himself. Laura just rolls her eyes, letting out a soft chuckle. "Of course _this_ is handsome. Old-school, made in '66 handsome, but handsome. I don't stress out about my looks anymore, I am what I am and that's that. Anyways… continue your story, Ash, we keep interrupting you and I know how that is a pain."

Ash chuckles. "It's alright. As I was saying, we just sat there talking for a while and then just looked at one another. Like, when words are too much for the moment, you know..? We just missed one another so bad…" her expression turns somber as she goes on. "He said that the first thing we'd do when I got back was going out to have either lunch or dinner, so I reminded him that I'd be arriving on the day one of his shows' was supposed to open, but he said it didn't matter. He'd find the time to go out with me and that was it. I took that for an obvious lie as I know how crazy things can get on opening night, with rehearsing and final arrangements, and he usually gets extra busy during that and I wasn't about to pull him away from all that. I thought about showing up in the middle of the afternoon to maybe get some snacks to eat during the play, but…" she takes a deep breath. "Okay, the days pass and… right before the plane took off, he called me. Said he has reservations for the night, that he missed me so much… that he loved me so much… and it couldn't come soon enough, I just missed him so much too… but when I arrived, he had…" she can feel the words clogging her throat. "H-he had…" she lets out a breath she hadn't realized was being held in. Her shoulders sag and her head hangs. Laura extends her hand towards the minor, but before she can reach her, Ash looks up once again. "Excuse me for a moment, please."


	16. Dead Mothers and Solo Work

Ash leaned into the bathroom sink, gently rubbing water on her face. She takes her phone out of her pocket, quickly lightning up the screen. No calls. No calls from the hospital, saying Buster was awake. No calls from Buster himself, telling her that everything had been a joke and he had been fine the entire time. But no - those calls were not made, let alone gone unanswered. With a heavy sigh, she slides her phone back into her jeans' pocket. She considers calling the hospital. After all… well… m-maybe Buster was awake and they just hadn't realized that yet?

But that would be useless. The nurse in charge of the ICU had vowed to call Ash if anything happened to change in Buster's situation. Checking in wouldn't do any harm, though. Because well… maybe a lot of patients arrived at once and it was chaotic around and they didn't have time to call her? Without a second thought, she takes out her phone once again, quickly dialing the hospital's number. At the third try, the nurse finally picks up, hurriedly telling her that Buster wasn't awake yet, before kindly reassuring her that, in the very same second he woke up, she'd be informed.

Now that was better. Well… not better. It'd be better if he was awake. Ash's heart is distressed. _Why is it taking so long?_ The doctor said it wouldn't take much longer! She gulps. Was… was there something else to it? Something they weren't telling her? Something that - God forbid - they would only tell his immediate family? Buster is an only child whose parents are deceased and is maintaining a secret relationship. _There is no immediate family to be informed._

Ash can feel tears prickle her eyes. She gives a rough sniff. _"Stop it,"_ her mind commands. _"Not here, not now, not today. They'll call. They'll call and say Buster is alright."_ Her eyes suddenly snap open.

_"Buster is alright."_

She feels fresh tears reaching her eyes.

_"Buster… is… he's… alright…"_

But this time, she makes no effort to hold them back. She moves over to the cabins, entering the one farthest from the door - the last thing she wanted was to be pitied - especially by a random stranger. When she locks the door, she allows her body to slide down to the floor with a hardly audible 'thump!'

"You good in there?" The sudden voice startles Ash. She hadn't noticed another cabin was occupied.

"Y-yeah!" She coughs, clearing her throat. "I'm fine."

"Sure?"

"Yeah, I'm just… I stubbed my toe," she lies.

"Ouch. Well… make sure to put some ice there, alright? And clean it with soap. I stubbed my toe a while ago and shortly after I got an infection. Dumbest thing or what?"

"Okay, I will," she replies, exasperatedly. She really didn't want to chat right now, let alone have small talk about _stubbed toes_ with a stranger.

"You a porcupine, right?"

"Yeah… you?"

"Rabbit."

 _Well, that explains it,_ Ash thinks, wryly. "How did you guess?"

"Clanking of quills."

"I could be a hedgehog."

"Hedgehog quills make a different sound."

Ash laughs lightly, leaning further against the wall. A beat passes before the other woman flushes.

"Pleasure to meet you."

"Yeah… same."

It's not until Ash can hear the distinctive sound of a door closing that she allows her head to lean back against the cabin's door. She pulls out her phone once again, quickly checking the time. 12:45 AM. She missed home desperately. She wanted to leave, she wanted it so bad, but wasn't about to ruin the date of the couple who so generously took her into their home until she felt better. She groans, closing her eyes. Her mind wanders back to all the events of the past year. The singing contest, Lance, her friends, the small-paying job she hated (but needed to keep so her bills would be paid), everything. She's so sick of being worried and on edge all the time, it feels like the times she had been happy were centuries ago.

"Ash?"

The girl freezes, holding her breath.

"I'm not going away."

"I'm fine. I just have a bit of a headache," she lies.

"I heard a sniffle." Laura's tone is much gentler now. "Please come out…"

"I just want to be alone, please leave me…" Ash's voice cracks halfway into the sentence and she silently curses herself for it.

"You don't have to be alone."

Ash doesn't answer, instead, she turns her back to the door. She doesn't want to talk. She doesn't want to discuss feelings. She just wants to wander away from the living nightmare her life had become, wander away and never come back. Her head eventually finds itself buried in her flexed knees, and Ash soon wraps her arms around her legs. She only lifts her head when she hears a small 'thump!' on the other side of the door.

A beat passes. "Laura?"

"I lost my mom when I was 12."

Ash slowly lets go of her legs, once again turning to the locked door.

"She wasn't sick or anything. Just… she was there one moment, and then the following, well… she wasn't. She had a cardiac arrest not long before I got home from school. She was gone even before the paramedics arrived. They just… they were so cold, treating her as if a dead woman was everything she had ever been. And then, it was just me and my father. Part of him died with her. His good part. He'd beat me, say I was useless. Hell, I got myself a job at 14 just so I could spend as much time as I could out of the house. He was unbelievably sexist, always discouraging my studies, but I never cared much for that. I had found a passion for Physics and decided I was going to graduate an engineer in the best university of Calatonia, even if that meant I'd be the only woman in the class, which I was. But that didn't matter. It wasn't what hurt the most. What hurt the most was not having mom there, sharing that moment with me."

"Laura, you-"

"And then, before I noticed, I was in my teens. You know, that phase that shapes who you are. And I didn't have many friends or just any good influences. I was rather rebellious, looking back. I got myself a mohawk once. It looked horrifying and I didn't keep it for 24 hours. I have a single picture of it if you want to see. Other then that, I was just… a recluse. Damn, I think I never told anyone this story before. I became an avid reader, though… I loved anything that would keep my mind busy. I didn't want to think of mom. I knew that if I did, I'd start crying. And I didn't want to cry, especially not in front of anyone. But then… I was in college and in the middle of this calculus class, doing a group project. We wanted to prove that the universe is constantly expanding, and so, we formulated an equation to simulate how much it expands a day, basing off of CASA documents that dated back to 1958. It's 1995 here. Anyways… the result was some tens of thousands of micrometers… 2,4 times ten to the negative 42. That's going to be… 41 zeros after the comma, and I'm talking about micrometers, which is ten to the negative six meters. Anyways… that number is really big, and it's measuring such a small distance we can almost say it's irrelevant. It's a single quark's expansion a day, yet we felt like Einstork when demonstrating the formula. Well… this one day, we were really close to a final formula when I felt something on my chest. I tried ignoring it, but it grew, and grew… I excused myself and ran into a bathroom. I was having an anxiety attack like I never had, or ever had again. It was bearing panic. And it didn't stop until I cried… I think every tear I didn't cry during my life, I cried there." She chuckles, then lightly tapping the door. "I got inside a cabin and sat there, head in hands, sobbing my heart out. And you know what? Altho it had been so long ago, mom's death was bottled up inside me. Ignoring it just made it worse. And all that time, I had tried to be strong, invulnerable. Never let anyone see my weakness. But that moment, oh, that moment… I begged someone would see me. Notice how frail I was and how much I needed help. To be held, told everything was going to be alright." She pauses. "But no one did."

A moment later, a small 'click' is heard, and so Ash peeks out at the woman sitting outside of the door, mouth agape. How come she had never told her about any of this before? That she was an engineer? Why the hell was she working in bars? She had many questions for Laura, but decided now wasn't the moment to ask any of them.

The woman merely shrugs. "So much for saying I know how you feel, uh?"

"How do you tell that story and don't cry?"

"Did you?" she asks, surprised.

"No, I didn't, I just…" she sighs. "It's sad. I had no idea."

"How could you possibly?" She chuckles. "Everyone has a sad story to tell. Guess we overcome them." She slides down the floor into the cabin, closing the door behind her. "But until we overcome them, it's fine to cry." Ash looks down. "You shouldn't feel bad for feeling bad."

"I'm just…" Ash sighs, lightly rubbing her eyes. "I'm tired of crying. I just want this to be over."

"So do I. Who wouldn't, honestly? But until you do…" Ash slowly leans into the woman's shoulder who, in return, gently rubs up and down her arm. "Let it out. It does wonders."

* * *

A while later, the two gals finally emerge from the bathroom in a side hug. Ash takes a peek at the clock. 2:22 AM. _Damn. Did I really sit inside that long?_

"I don't know why are you insisting on this. It's standard procedure, just ask your supervisor! It's Fergunson, isn't it? Ask him. Well, then ask any high rank that's sitting there! Who's the commander for the night? Miller? Well, go ask him! If those images are moved, someone's getting their ass kicked, and it's not a supervisor!" Munro says into the speaker of his phone. His expression softens a little when he sees the two women returning to the table. He and Laura exchange a brief kiss before he motions to her and turns again to talk. "Yeah, I'm here. Oh yeah? How surprising! The images stay there until Moon can analyze them. 'Why not do it now, why not do it now,' because he's in a freaking coma, that's why!" He quickly waves an apology at the waiter who stares at him for being too loud. "No one can possibly want to catch those bears more than I do."

Ash lightly scoffs. Oh, he has _no_ idea…

"I know what I'm doing. The images stay there until further order. I don't want them rolling around some precinct's safe room, Pete knows if there are officers who work for the bears. I have to go. Just keep trying to make a connection while Moon doesn't wake up. Thanks. You too. Bye."

"What happened there?" Laura asks.

"Rookies rookie-ing. Yeah, apparently some operator in charge of the evidence room missed the memo of the case and wanted to submit the images from the nightclub to the 10th precinct of the LAMAOD. Can you believe this?"

She looks up as if in thought. "I… have absolutely no idea what that means."

"If they do that, it's no longer my case, it's just another police case which will sit along many until the police actually catches them. And that's if some crook doesn't wipe it off the map before they arrest someone. I think the guy who called me just graduated. Doesn't know the procedure, saw Frisk's name in some document, and thought the file could be there by mistake. Rookies. Anyways, you two alright? You were in there for an awful lot of time," he says, looking over at the porcupine sitting on the other side of the table.

"We're fine," Ash assures, "we just sat there and talked for a while."

"Good. Talking is always good. Well, I picked up the table while you were away, and made sure to include some soda and beer for the ride back."

"Drinking and driving? You're a cop," Laura says with a laugh.

"But without the _driving_ part," he says, quickly tossing her his keys. "I'm tired. Can't risk falling asleep behind the wheel or something."

* * *

Frisk spreads the floor plan across the table with a sigh. _Why me?_ He studies it carefully, recalling the way in. _The gate's down here…_ he pins the lookout cabin he saw. _Two men here._ He writes the number under the pin. _Alright. Uphill, through the garage…_ he lifts a pin, but soon lowers his hand. _The forest. Possibly camouflaged…_ he sets pins on the forest, garage and the main patio. _Up to the evidence room through the flight of stairs on the right side, here_ … up to the evidence room right… here. He pins the stairs and room. _That crippled bastard with a Bearetta._ He then writes the number 1 under the pin and circles the room, letting out a breath. "Alright, I'm done. How does this go? They have the entire perimeter covered."

"As they have a weak spot," the hamster adds, "every battalion does. Those guys aren't any more careful than Feral Federal Forces or the FBeeI." She jumps on the table, looking up at the otter. "Come on, Frisk. Think. Any place that vaguely seemed deserted. The walls surrounding it, just one that you could climb up and down with no questions asked."

"They have a wall that they use to practice climbing, or so I suppose, Em- Major Jones. I could reach it with quite a piece of effort but even so, I… I can't help but think they have everything closely monitored."

"Oh, please, the place's been running on the same budget since 1998. Twenty years down the road and they have machine guns. Either they afford security for themselves or the others, can't do both!"

Frisk thinks for a moment. "The battalion goes uphill. Maybe the back isn't as much watched?"

"Or the other way around. Maybe the back is more closely watched because it's a weak spot. It's obvious. Anyone who wanted to attack them could simply circle the hill and catch them off guard," she enlightens.

"So…" Frisk begins, clapping his paws, "how do we get there?"

Emily Jones freezes right in her spot, dropping the pen she had been holding. "There is no we. This is a professional courtesy."

Frisk shifts awkwardly on his seat. "Well… w… who's going with me, then? Who's gonna watch my back?" She furrows her brows, a harsh expression on her face as she stares up at the much larger animal. _No. No. NO!_ "Solo?! It's dangerous, Jones!"

"Major Jones," she corrects, "restrain yourself, officer." He stands straight once again, taking a deep breath. "It's a solo mission and that's final - not up to discussion. Understood?"

Frisk looks down at his hands, fiddling with his thumbs. "At least get me dynamite, then. Please?" he pleads.

"Dynamite?" She asks, curious," what for?"

"I need to run away after I throw a Molotov, there's a big chance they'll see me," he explains, "with dynamite, well… I can coordinate the explosion. I'll be out of there before everything goes into the air."


	17. Awakening and Engagement Rings

Buster slowly moves on the bed. First his shoulders, then his arms, then his hands, followed soon closely by his fingers and legs. Where the _hell_ was he? Slowly, he trails down his body, lingering at the rediscovered movement. His eyes, focused on the blinding white lamp above, are the last ones to follow the rest of his body. He looks around. A hospital room. Oh boy.

That wasn't it good. Sure, Buster had never been in such a situation before, but he knew that waking up in a hospital bed couldn't be anything good. Even though he can tell his thinking process is slow, images from the last few minutes he had been awake suddenly appear in his mind. His bike in front of the theatre. The red-velvet seats. The phone call. Collapsing to the ground… _a gun._ The last moments flash right before his eyes.

" _Give us the money."_

He feels his chest tighten, his heart beat faster.

" _We can do it the hard… or the easy way."_

His breathing pattern soon quickens, he can hear the beeps from the monitor speeding up.

" _Where is Mike?!"_

He shuts his eyes tight.

" _I have a strict no-witnesses policy."_

He wants to move… _why can't he?_ Why are his muscles so sore?

_BANG!_

Buster's eyes suddenly snap open as his body shoots up on the bed, as if in a delayed reaction.

Bad idea. His entire body protests as he does so. Audibly, he yelps in pain and falls back in the bed, grunting. Slowly, his heartbeat decreased, and so calms down a little, looking at the closed door ahead. He moves his hands upwards to his chest. Huh. When had the thin sheets been placed upon him? He carefully pulls it off, fearful for what he might see. Totally understandable. The big, reddish bandage spread over his chest frightens him. His eyes widen as he touches them, you know, in case he is imagining all this. But no, he is not. The bandages around his chest are as real as him. He looks to his side, following the tubes that lead to blood bags and medicine - he guesses - until they melt into one single wire, which is stuck on his arm.

Buster feels the urge to rip them off. He _hates_ needles. He doesn't use the word often. He finds it too aggressive, yet that's the exact word he uses to talk about needles, he _hates, hates, hates_ needles. He can't think about something he ha-erm, detests, more than needles. Not even the bears that flooded his theatre and had now sent him here. He still detests needles the best. He looks up at the monitor. _Beep, beep, beep_. He cracks a small, faint smile at it. Well, at least he was _alive._ Looking a bit ahead, he checks out the patient's infobox. He reads it, makes a weird face, and reads it again to make sure he isn't hallucinating.

**MUNRO BELLEVILLE/LASPOD**

**O-/51/GUNSHOT WOUND/VARIOUS**

**NO KNOWN ALLERGIES/RISK OF FALLING**

**EMERGENCY CONTACT: LAURA FISHERMAN/213-389-8755**

"What the-?" he tries standing on his elbows, but they soon falter, leaving his body to fall back on the bed. He trails down the bed with his hand until it slams into a small pad with a single button in it.

_Click._

* * *

Ash wakes up to the annoying ringing sound. She really needs to change it. It's not the first time it both startles her awake and irritates her, but more than that, it was a sound that she associated with Lance. More so, he had recently found out her phone number and called her, thus making her associate it with him even further. _Even more so_ , she only knew one person that would call her this early in the morning, and it was a certain cheater who wanted to get back with her no matter the cost. But today, Ash doesn't want to endure this. _Pete forbid it's him…_

She angrily picks up her phone, only to relax upon seeing the number in the screen. Eddie?

"Hey man, you okay?"

" _Ash, he's awake! He woke up!"_

She jumps from the bed, tossing the sheets far. "Are you serious?!"

" _Dead serious! I_ think _he wants to talk to you..,"_ he jests, " _let me get back inside and pass him the phone."_

"What about a phone! I'm going down there!" she replies, already throwing some clothes on.

The sheep just laughs. " _I thought so. Listen, he woke up, but he was so tired and sore that we went back to sleep. So don't get scared if you get here and he isn't awake, okay?"_

"Got it. Thank you!" She throws the phone back to the bed, fist-pumping in air. Yes! About time he woke up!

She puts on whichever pants she can find scattered around in the small-but-comfortable guest room she has been sleeping in for the last week - _or so._ She isn't 100% sure that her shirt is on the right side, but it'll have to do. She can flip it later. After she sees him. Aside from that, she puts on her signature red sneakers and checkered skirt, and grabs herself a sweatshirt, just in case it is cold outside. Grabbing her phone and wallet and shoving both into her pocket, she runs out of the room.

"Ash?"

"Laura, he's awake! He's finally awake!"

"You serious?" The reply comes in the form of a strong hug. "Oof! Guess you are," she laughs. "Let's go. I'll drive you."

"No need to," Ash says with a smile. "I can take a cab."

The woman just grabs the keys. "And take almost an hour, plus the fee? No way. I'm a fast driver, we'll be there in 30."

Ash looks beyond the woman, at the table. "But you're… all settled up there. I don't wanna impose."

"You're not," she assures with a wink. "Let's go."

* * *

Munro tosses and turns in bed, trying to go back to sleep. After some good ten minutes, he finally gives up and looks up at the ceiling before letting out a long sigh. He can tell he has already slept a lot from the bright light passing through the half-shut blinds inside the room, but he's still tired. A lot. Maybe going out the previous night and drinking about half a dozen beer cans in the backseat of his car hadn't been one of his brightest ideas.

But can you blame him? He had meant for the night to be a romantic date between himself and his fiancée. He groans. Laura had a good heart. It was one of the things he loved about her, after all. But it could get really overbearing, especially if _you_ weren't that compassionate. He knew she had only meant to make Ash feel welcome, and he's totally fine with that. But _come. on!_ It was a personal moment! There are things that couples do alone, no matter if there's a guest in their house. Three's a crowd!

His train of thought is interrupted by the ring of his phone on the nightstand. He rolls onto his side with a grunt before reaching out for it. He quickly identifies the number flashing before his eyes and slaps his own cheeks a few times to wake himself up. He clears his throat before answering in his best not-hungover voice.

"Belleville."

" _Just who I wanted to talk to,"_ the voice laughs. " _Your friend woke up, did you know that?"_

"Moon?" he yawns out, cursing himself internally.

" _Do_ _you have another friend in a coma?"_ The man laughs again. " _You feeling alright? You sound sick."_

"Yeah, I'm fine. I had a few beers last night and went to bed late."

" _I feel you. I was up awake until three in the morning on Rat Bull. That thing kills."_

"Tell me about it."

" _I'll force myself away from it. My heart feels like exploding. Anyways…"_ he clears his throat loudly, making Munro retreat and hold the phone away from his ear. As if his headache wasn't bad enough… " _Let me suggest going down to the hospital ASAP and have him unlock that darn computer of his. And also… to keep him from telling the doctors his real name. He does strike me as a loudmouth, from what you've said."_

"He is one. I'll get dressed and go down there now." Ignoring the throbbing headache, he sits up. "And thank you. He wouldn't have been able to pay the hospital bill, and we got the same blood type, so…"

" _Don't mention it. Our family and friends deserve it. But you can't let him tell those doctors find out he isn't you. Last thing I need is Mr Commissioner coming up here with his panties in a bunch."_

Munro laughs. "Don't worry. No one will find out."

" _No one better. I see you."_

The higher-ranking operator hangs up. Munro puts the phone back in the stand and allows himself to fall back on the bed. _I'm not living through the day without medicine._ Standing up, he stumbles a little on his way to the bathroom, but finally manages to grab an aspirin and some Epocler from the cabinet. He swallows both with a frown. It tastes horrible, yet it had never let him down. He sits on the tub for a small while before moving over to the closet and putting on his uniform.

There are a few wrinkles on the shirt, but hey, that's what happens when you _use_ them, right? He straightens it up the best he can before grabbing his badge, gun, backpack, and keys. That is, if he can find them. He's grows increasingly annoyed as he checks pockets, drawers, rooms, tables. He then remembers: Laura drove them home last night, and so, he checks the pockets in her pants. No. Her office, maybe? No. Kitchen, no. He finally grabs his phone once again and quickly dials her number.

" _Hey, Mun."_

"Hey, love. Listen… have you seen my keys? I can't find them anywhere."

" _Oh. Uh… I took the car today. I should've left a note. I'm sorry."_

"It's alright. What happened to your car?"

" _On the shop since last week, remember? After that crash with a monkey. It was a bad crash, even the backdoors were dented."_

"I forgot about that. Damn. Well, uh… where are you?"

" _I'm in the hospital. Buster woke up and I drove Ash here."_

"Bad synchrony," he says with a laugh. "That's exactly where I am headed."

" _If only I knew…"_ she chuckles. " _Want me to pick up you up? Traffic isn't as bad at this hour, I could get there fast."_

"No, it's alright. I'll take a cab or something and meet you up there." He pauses. "I love you."

" _Love you too… see you here, Mun."_

He hangs up and thinks for a moment before dialing another number. The other speaker picks up in no time.

"Morning, Frisk. Wanna have breakfast?"

* * *

Frisk adjusts the small carton of milk under his arm as he walks down the hall and into the elevator. He had never been invited to any superior's house, let alone to an elite battalion superior's house. He thought about joining the LASPOD, the high salary, benefits, and prestige being his motivation. But when Aspen announced she was pregnant, he postponed it. He didn't want to miss this. Oh, and also, he's corrupt. There's always that in his way.

With a beep, the elevator's doors open and so, Frisk steps out and walks down the corridor. When he finally reaches apartment no. 607, he rings the doorbell. A cough is heard on the other side.

"Captain? It's Frisk."

The door soon opens, clicking the chain. Munro peeks out at him. "Safe?"

Frisk looks back - just in case. "Uh… alone and uh… yeah, I guess safe."

The door slams shut. The koala quickly clicks the chain before finally throwing the door open, fully this time. "Hello, buddy! How are you doing?"

"Doing excellent, sir. Yourself?"

"Eh, can't complain." He then takes a step aside, motioning to the otter. "Come on in."

Frisk holds out the milk carton as he walks past him, action that Munro retaliates with a frown. "I… brought this. Felt weird to not bring anything, you could maybe put this on coffee."

Munro checks the lid as Frisk takes another step inside. "Frisk."

He quickly turns. "Yes?"

"I'm lactose intolerant," he says, almost apologetically. The officer's eyes lower. "But hey, Laura isn't and I'm guessing you aren't either. You put this on coffee. There's fresh coffee in that pot over there. Make yourself at home. Let's just get going, because I need to go to the hospital."

"You feeling alright, sir?" he asks, a hint of worry in his voice.

Munro picks up a couple dishes and mugs from a drawer. "As great as I can possibly be. Why you ask?"

"Hospital, then..?" he risks.

"Not for me," the senior explains as he sets down the two mugs - both with the LASPOD emblem, Frisk notices - on the table. "Moon. Apparently, he woke up, and I want to pay him a visit. Can I get a ride? Laura's got my car," he finishes, looking up at the otter.

"Of course, sir, no problem." He shifts awkwardly in his seat, before coming closer. "U-uh… do you need some help, or..?"

"No, I got this. But thank you."

* * *

"Thanks for the meal, Captain."

"How many times do I gotta say? Munro. Not Captain, not sir. Munro. Damn, I find my name so beautiful and you refuse to call me by it!"

"I'm sorry, sir- Munro." The koala just laughs, and that puts the otter at some kind of ease. "Y-yeah. Thanks for the meal."

"Welcome, Frisk. My pleasure. It's not often that I have a friend over."

Frisk shifts awkwardly on his seat. _Friend?_ Since when? Was that how Munro saw him? "So, uh… what's the order of the day?"

"The order of the day? The order of the day is eyes open, mouth shut," he replies, almost threateningly, and looking at Frisk with an angry expression.

Frisk gulps, looking straight ahead. "Yep. Got it. Eyes open, mouth shut."

Munro just laughs, poking his shoulder. "Chill! I'm just messing with you!"

Frisk lightly punches his shoulder back in fake annoyance, joining in his laughter. "It's not funny! It's not funny!"

"Alright, alright..," he says, resting back in the driver's seat. "Order of the day is visiting Moon and hanging around for a bit," he finishes, his tone much gentler than usual. "Understood?"

"Understood."

* * *

"Look who's up and rocking it!" Munro says, throwing the door open. "Morning, sleeping beau—" his phrase is cut in half by a jacket thrown at his face. He quickly pulls it off to see his fiancée on the couch and staring at him.

"They're asleep."

"Geez, wasn't almost two weeks enough?" he says with a laugh. She punches his arm. "Ow!"

"Don't start, please…"

"I'm just joking." Munro shifts on his position slightly before speaking in an innocent tone. "So, I am guessing I can't ask him if he reached Nirvana state while asleep?" She shoots him another stare. "Or just any kind of joke about his condition..?"

"Would you like it if it was you up there? Or me?" He goes to talk, but soon shuts his mouth. He'd be the first one to laugh and make jokes about himself if it was him up there, but the first animal to make a joke about _her_ would be in for a bad time. "I thought so." A beat passes before she hops off the couch and walks over to him. "You are _not_ gonna believe what I found."

"What?" She lifts a small box. He looks confused for a moment, but finally understands when she lifts her brows. His eyes widen. "Oh."

"With Ash's and his' names inside."

"You're joking."

"Right hand to Pete. Check it out." She tosses the small box to him. Munro quickly opens it. "He's got a good taste," she adds.

"I… I don't know what to make out of this, Laura," he confesses. "I mean… I'm completely fine with the two of them being together and everything, but marriage, wow… she's not even 18 yet."

Laura just shrugs. "It's up to him to propose and up to her to say yes or no."

"People don't just _deny_ a marriage proposal, but still, it doesn't-" he cuts his phrase short when the doors open to reveal Frisk. He hurriedly shoves the box into his pocket before turning to the rookie, who salutes.

"Sir. Ms Fisherman."

Munro goes to speak, but is cut off. "At ease, officer. And please, just call me Laura."

"Alright, Ms Laura."

"Much better." Munro merely shoots her a funny look, prompting her to laugh. "What is it?"

"Oh, nothing… _Colonel,_ " he says in a fake serious tone complete with a small salute.

"I always wanted to do this," she explains, a smile plastered on her face. "Always seemed cool when you did it."

He comes closer to her, gently pecking her forehead. "Well, it suits you."

* * *

"Space 1978, all caps and together," the faint voice echoes through the room. The sound of typing and a beep soon follow.

"Yes, Moon! Ha…" he says, exasperated, brushing sweat off his forehead. "Mind explaining the password reminder?"

"It should've been 'first love + year' but the computer wouldn't let," he begins, chuckling. It doesn't take long for him to start coughing. The senior, experient, holds his head up, at the same time keeping his chest pressed to the bed until the fit is over. Buster then lays limp on the bed with a tired sigh, before taking the other man's hand. "Thank you."

"You good?" Munro asks, both worried and serious. Buster nods. "Sure? Need some water?" He lifts up a chilly bottle. The other koala merely extends his hand as an open bottle comes in his direction. "Sit up, or you're gonna choke," he explains.

"I…" Buster raises both hands in confusion. Munro merely leans in, hugging the younger koala.

"Wrap your arms around me."

He quickly does as told, almost pulling the man over himself. Altho not effortlessly, Munro finally manages to pull him up to a somewhat comfortable position. Buster winces in pain, holding his chest. "This hurts a lot."

"I know. It'll hurt for a while, but it's better than choking. A coughing fit hurts ten times more."

Buster's head is spinning, his thoughts engulfed in the worse pain he has ever felt. He has to use both hands to hold the bottle to his mouth. "How do you know?"

"27 years of service and five gunshot wounds, plus three stabbing wounds, two of which to the chest," he explains, pulling another bottle from his backpack. "Also, one of my old friends has recently been in your shoes. His condition wasn't as bad, not meaning to be a bundle of joy. He was out for a while and it hurt immensely, by what he said." He clicks their bottles. "Salud."

"S-salud." He then takes a small sip, twisting his mouth. Holy hell. It tastes so good and so sour at the same time. He blames his empty stomach for the sour taste and fights the spasms of his stomach to finish the bottle. When he's done, he holds his head with one hand while extending the bottle with the other.

"Damn," he laughs, picking it up and inspecting it. "Can I get you another one?"

Buster falls back on the bed, shaking his head. "It was hard enough to finish that one," he laughs, his voice raspy. "I just wanna lie down…"

"Your call, buddy." He adjusts himself on his seat. "So?"

"So..?"

"The story of the password."

"Oh. Well, when I was three, I wanted to go to space, and that was in-"

"U-uh." Munro cuts him off, pointing a finger at him. "1978," he finishes for him. Buster restrains himself to nodding. "Well played, buddy, well played. My guys at the LASPOD couldn't crack it. Not like that's saying a lot, given how old our computers are," he laughs.

Buster tries turning to his visitor, but immediately resigns the idea when his entire body protests the movement. He relaxes on the bed, soon lifting two of his fingers in a peace sign. Munro looks confused for a moment. "Two. Two questions."

"Go ahead, Moon. What is it?"

"Why am I interned under your name?" He points to the sign on the wall.

Munro reads over the information before letting out a breath and looking at Buster once again. "You're interned under my name to save you from declaring bankruptcy because of the hospital bill. Yeah, turns out we also have the same blood type, O-, is that correct?"

The younger koala shrugs. "I… wouldn't know."

"Well, we do. We tested you," he adds, "and yeah, O-, you and me. Universal donors who only receive from each other. Oh… you're welcome, by the way," he finishes, winking and shooting Buster a sly grin.

His eyes go slightly wider. "Y-you gave me blood..? Why..?"

"You needed it. You lost a lot of blood and, as a general rule, hospitals are always low on O-. They use that type of blood on just every patient that arrives without their family to inform a blood type and we only receive from other O negatives. So they were running low, and I donated some blood."

"Well…" he takes the man's hand once again. "Thank you. It's kind of you to do."

"Don't mention it," he says, retreating his hand. "There wasn't an O- or even an O+ among the cast at the time being, so I did it. Ash is the only O, and she was out of town. Anyways, I figured that since we have the same blood type, it wouldn't be a problem to intern you under my name and health insurance. These things are expensive. Just pretend you're me and you should come out relatively untouched in the process." He fiddles with his thumbs on his lap. "What's the other question?"

"What's with the fancy clothing?" Munro laughs lightly as Buster's hand trails down the lapels on his black LASPOD uniform and pulls on the silver stars attached to it.

"Let's just say I'm going to arrest the pricks that put you here." He reaches into his pocket as he turns to look at the door. That movement alone makes Buster anxious, so he gulps. "Correct me if I'm wrong… but I asked you one question and you asked me _two._ So that leaves us with a negative balance of one question to you. So, let's settle this. I have another question."

Buster felt as if he was the guiltiest man in the world undergoing a life or death interrogation. His answer had the power to kill or save him, and Munro was the guard in charge of executing whichever sentence his words gave him. For a second, he can swear he saw a glimpse of the cop Munro once was. He wouldn't like to be pulled over by him or have him search his theatre or house. But still, the two of them were friends. Or so Buster wanted them to be. He looks up a little. "Yes..?"

The senior places a tiny box on the blue sheets, opening it so Buster can see what's inside. "You have a nice taste. Mind telling me more about these two?"


	18. Lawyers and Betrayal

"I know there isn't much to explain," he continues, "the names inside speak for themselves. But you do know she's a 17-year-old and, since you haven't been in a cryogenic box for the past 20 years, you know youngsters don't want to get committed. So I guess my real question is, aren't you afraid she'll leave you for someone who doesn't hurry that much? You've been together for less than a year."

"I always am… there are better, younger guys around and you know it, and well… Ash is… _Ash,_ she can have anyone she wants," Buster speaks with a faint grin, "but, at the same time, she keeps saying over and over and over again that _I_ am the one that she wants. No matter how many times the words '25 year difference' arise, she would always none of it mattered. That she'd fight so she could be with me." He coughs and raises his hand as the man moves to help him, dismissing him. Munro merely sits back down. "Thanks, I got this. Anyways… she stood by me all these days that I was out. How many girls do you know that do that?"

"Don't even get me started," Munro begins, rubbing his temples. "I was a tad bit too familiar with hospitals back when I served. I have a feeling that if I had scared Laura one more time with a trip to the hospital, she would've killed me herself," he finishes with a laugh. "So yeah, Moon, you are lucky you found yourself someone to stay by your side in health or in sickness, but come on… Ash isn't even 18 yet. Don't you think she should have some time of freedom in her life without the pressure of marriage on her back?"

"Don't you think that's none of your business?"

The reply takes both koalas by surprise. Munro's eyes widen, while Buster just covers his mouth. He didn't mean to say that. No, he didn't mean to say that. Well… _maybe_ part of him wanted to. Seriously, who the hell was this guy to come in here and tell him it wasn't the right time to propose? But still… he could've _worded_ _it_ differently.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't mention it. You know what? You're right," he picks up the box once again. "It's none of my business. But I feel obliged to hide this so Ash can't see it until you propose. Want me to leave it somewhere special?"

"N-no, erm… my office's desk is..." he coughs, covering his mouth. "Fine."

"I'll drop it there on my way. I gotta go to the LASPOD drop this computer. Gonna be okay on your own? Ash may take a while to come back."

"Y-yeah, I'll... I'll be fine. Thank you so much. A-and again, I'm sorry." He lifts his hand in a fist. "Buddies?" he risks.

Munro fist-pumps him. "Always, pal."

"Good," he exhales with a small laugh, scratching his head. "For a second, I thought you might… well, you know."

"Nah. I… I'm pretty chill with most things. I try to understand the reasons behind actions."

"N-no, I mean… n-not right now. W-well, right now too, but just… overall." The other man furrows his brows. "You struck me as a sort of stone cold guy when I met you, scary even. A-and here you are, telling me we're buddies!" he finishes, laughing nervously.

"Laura has told me I'm a bit inaccessible. I apologize. But hey, former cops are going to be former cops and scrutinize just everyone who approaches. That's why I pretend I got a tougher shell than I really do. You get used to it. When you see me mask off, I'm actually a pretty darn friendly guy. You'll see." He pats his own backpack. "I should really get going. But it was nice seeing you."

* * *

_Earlier that day…_

"So yeah, that's basically it," Johnny concludes, nervously rubbing the nape of his neck. "The lawyer charges per seriousness of charge, putting that and his honoraries together… well, it's gonna get really expensive."

"How expensive?" Buster asks, his voice raspy. The gorilla shifts on his seat for a moment. "And honestly. Please."

"Something around $100,000."

All jaws in the room drop. Johnny looks down. Slowly, Gunter places a hoof on his back.

"There, there… it's gonna be fine. I know you can make this money super _schnell,_ ja _?"_

"Heh, thanks." He looks back at the animals in front of him. "But still, fixing cars as fast as I can without help… it would take more than a year. Unless I got to fix a Ferreti or Porsheep a week, but we know that isn't happening."

"What's your father in prison for?" All eyes fall on the koala, who puts his hands up defensively. " _If you don't mind the only cop present asking…_ I'm just curious."

"He was… it's a big list. Robbery, escaping prison, damaging a federal building…"

"Did they give you a parole hearing sheet?"

"A what?"

He sighs. "A parole hearing sheet, file, document… I don't know the exact name. It's a piece of paper with information regarding the inmates. You got it?"

"Oh!" He quickly grabs his backpack, opening its zipper and fidgeting with the things inside. "I do. Let me just…" he pulls out a blue file, then extends it to the man. "Here."

Munro opens it, then reads it out loud. "Dean Marcus Pai, Stan Frederiksen and Barry Johnson."

"I-it's Marcus. My father. The other two are his gang buds."

"A.K.A 'The Blue Gang'. Got it." He opens the respective page. "Dean Marcus Pai. Born October 30th 1980 in San Franchital, gorilla, AB+, yadda yadda yadda…" he flips a couple pages. "Here. Larceny, gang formation, aggravated assault, burglary, assisting criminals, disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace, damaging a federal building, voluntary manslaughter-"

"T-that one is a lie. Back in the day, a cop jumped in front of him and… they ended up crediting it to him. The cop saved his life, but it wasn't dad who killed him."

"I'm used to false accusations," is the koala's simple response. "That's conventional police's specialty," he laughs. Johnny gives him an awkward laugh in return. "Anything to grab the jury by the heart. Anyways… robbery, filed under open container law… damn, Johnny. This is a huge list. There are… what? One, two, three… fifteen accusations! Quite impressive and that's saying something, given what I've seen. Which lawyer are you hiring?"

"That guy who's on TV all the time. The one from the commercials, Seal Goodman."

"Goddamn it, I hate him. He makes men as guilty as sin leave prisons through the front door." Johnny laughs a little at that. Munro just flips back to the first page, quickly reading something over. "And you don't wanna hire him."

"What? Why?"

The koala extends the file so the gorilla can see, his finger pointed at a field. "Judge Christopher Joseph Elliott. Or to the close ones, "CJ" Elliott. Calatonia, 1990. A neighbor of mine was accused of assault. An assault that came to the police's knowledge as we were playing blackjack at my place. I said I would, and I did, testify. Well, he freaked out and hired our boy there. Seal walked into that courtroom, presented the defense, the jury deemed him undoubtedly innocent, and Elliott sentenced him to five years in Calatonia Correctional Institute. 1997, Karl Johanssen was accused of homicide. Seal defended him to Elliott. He was hung. Later that year, the police found out he was innocent. A dog, a Stephen Smith was the actual killer. 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2004 all have similar cases. All suspects defended by Seal, all judged by Elliott, all men, sometimes innocent, left the courtroom with harsher sentences than the ones they were originally given. So trust me when I say you don't wanna walk in there with Seal Goodman as your attorney."

"What happened between them, do you know?"

"Elliott is old school, as am I. He was appointed in the same year I became a police officer, many…" he laughs. "Many _moons_ ago." Laura facepalms. The man merely looks up at the koala in the bed.

"About time I expected one of those from you," Buster half-laughs, half-coughs out.

"Anyways, Elliott hates smartasses. They do nothing but insult and sass out prosecutors, jury members, police officers, and himself. If he sees Seal, there's no doubt in my mind that your father and company are locked up for life. Especially with a file this extense."

Johnny buries his face in his hands with noise. "Aw, dammit!"

"You didn't make a first deposit, did you?"

"No, I haven't, but…" he sighs. "Now I don't have a lawyer."

"I can indicate a friend. He's a real killer. I'm friends with Elliott, too, I could possibly fill his ears with wonders about your father and his gang, but first, I need you to do a thing."

"And what's that?"

"Convince me that they changed. Convince me that the first thing they'll do as they're out of prison isn't going back to their old habits."

* * *

As Frisk walks into the garden, he can feel his feet burn and his back ache. _TV._ Yeah. Some plotless TV comedy and a chilly glass of soda would make him brand new. He quietly unlocks the front door and steps inside, afraid he might wake up his wife. Back when they dated, Aspen was an night owl. But when she got pregnant, suddenly she would go to bed at 7PM. It was 10, almost 11 now, so… seventh sleep? Once he reaches the living room - tiptoeing -, he slowly takes off his shirt and shoes, and puts them in a nearby chair before going into the kitchen. There, he pours himself a nice chilly glass of Coca-Koala and grabs a bag of Dogritos before returning to the other room and jumping on the couch. He grabs the remote and turns the TV on, only to regret that decision as the sound blasts through the house, breaking the silence. He lowers the volume and prays he didn't wake Aspen up. He knows his prayers weren't answered as he hears noise upstairs and down the stairs.

"Alex?! Is that you?!"

He casually swallows the bunch of chips he had been chewing and raises his arm so she can see him on the couch. "Here, baby."

She comes closer, touching his forehead. "Where have you been, are you alright?"

"I'm fine, love, I just… I had a long day and just drove around for a bit to clear up my mind."

"Did you see that Spec Ops character today?"

"You mean Munro? Yeah, I did. There was something off with him." She gives him a weird look. "He was… friendly. He invited me over for breakfast this morning. Told me about his fiancée and kids, how police was back in the day… he called me his _friend,_ " he lets out a forced laugh, raising his hands. "How weird is that?!"

"You tagged along him all day?"

"Yeah. Moon there just woke up and the entire cast went down there to visit him. Quite eventful day. Moon asked who I was and then saluted me."

Before Aspen can reply, Frisk's phone vibrates. He quickly moves over and grabs it.

"Hello?"

_"IDIOT!"_

The sudden shout makes Frisk almost fall off the couch. While the other speaker screams in his ear, he quickly hugs Aspen and mutters an apology as heads out. "It's the sergeant. Just a second." Once he closes the door behind him and moves over to the front porch, his tone changes to one of an angry whisper. "What did I say about my wife not knowing-"

 _"Shut it,_ sukin syn _. You irresponsible idiot!"_

"Chill!" he speaks as firmly as he can without yelling. "What did I do?"

 _"Your friend is turning in the images from the theatre as we speak and you aren't there to throw that Molotov yet!"_ Frisk freezes. Alright, _now_ what does he do? Betray the trust of the only superior who liked him or do as the bears say and, well… _not die?_ His eyes grow wide, only to be tightly shut a second after. He mutters a prayer under his breath.

_"What?!"_

"I said I'm going down there now!"

Betray the trust of the only superior who liked him.

* * *

The phone phone rings incessantly as Laura finishes drying her hands while walking over to it.

"Coming, coming..." she picks it up. "Hello?"

_"Good evening. Munroe Belleville, please."_

"You mean Munro. Uh..." she looks over to the front door. "He's not here right now. Who's speaking?"

_"Patricia Elbanks, LASAOD. Badge number #2437. Do you know when he'll be back?"_

"Possibly not in a-" she hears the front door unlock. "He's here! Just a second."

_"Yes, ma'am."_

When the door finally opens, Laura happily greets him with a hug and kiss, both of which Munro gladly returns. When he moves lower to rest his head on her shoulder, she lightly pushes him.

"Phone for you."

"Ugh. Tell me it's not the Commissioner..."

She giggles, pecking his nose. "No, silly. It's someone from the LASAOD."

"Bet it's about Mike!" He moves over, picking it up. "It'll only take a minute."

"Alright. I'm almost done with the dishes, too, then we can do something."

"Got you." He lifts the phone to his ear. "Belleville."

_"Hello, Captain Belleville. I'm sorry to inform, but your missing animal report and search requirement were turned down."_

"What?! Why?!"

_"It's doubled. A missing report and search request for Michael Peterson Kayes, white mouse, 32, last seen in 551 Echo Drive also called 'Moon Theatre' has already been placed."_

"When? By who?" He can hear typing on the other side.

_"It was placed by a LAMAOD officer, Alexander William Frisk, badge #3435 on… October 5th, 2017, at 10:25PM."_

Munro's eyes widen. _The same day Buster was shot._ "Who accepted it? Name and badge, please."

More typing. _"Placed on Major Emily Jones' shift. She signed for it. Her badge number is #1499."_

"Thank you." Just as he's about to hang up, he hears movement and whispers on the other side before a different speaker comes on the phone.

_"Captain Belleville? I'm terribly sorry, sir, but there has been a mistake. Your report was accepted and the search requirement was placed."_

"I was just told neither of those things happened."

_"That was a mistake. The officer you just spoke too was a rookie, she isn't familiar with the system just yet."_

"She seemed informed enough to check the report and tell me a lot of info about it." A beat passes before the pieces click in his head and he lets out a small laugh. "Jones? Is it you?"

_"No, sir. I'm Eliza Baker, badge #2204."_

"You officers don't call your rookies 'rookies', you call them 'newbies'. Rookie is a LASPOD thing. You have to know me. So hello, Major Jones."

The woman sighs. _"Hello, Belleville."_

"Did you know that impersonating an officer is a felony? Five years jail time," he says, finishing with a laugh.

_"Enjoy your retirement, Belleville."_

"Back at you." He then clicks the phone. Laura's by his side in a second.

"How did it go?"

"Not very good, but I'll tell you something… this," he lifts a piece of paper he had been writing on. "Smells like trouble. Will you help me? You got more logical thinking than I'll ever have."

* * *

Frisk speeds to the building without getting much attention. When he reaches the front gates, however, he slows down and looks around to make sure there's no one there. When he deems his surroundings to be clear, he closes his eyes. Was he really going to do that? Destroy a police- a special battalion? What if someone got injured? _It's this or my family._ Flashes of Aspen, as well as imaginary images of himself playing with his infant daughter rush through his mind. _It's this or my family._

Passing the building without a second thought, he slams on the brakes as he makes a U-turn to the side walls of the LASPOD. He slowly drives uphill, terrified at the idea of being caught. He taps on the wheel as he drives, lights off, closer and closer to the evidence room. _It's this or my family._

He still moves a few meters further so he can use the car's roof to impulse himself over the wall. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath before carefully opening the door and stepping outside. He groans at the audible sound his footsteps make in contact with the dry leaves below. He opens the trunk and is soon met with a black and red bundle. He sighs as he picks up every piece of dynamite and puts it in each of his vest's pockets. _It's this or my family._

He then grabs connectors, silver tape, and the actual detonator, stored separately from the rest. Well, there would be no point in this if _he exploded_ , right? He finally stands on the roof and takes a peek at the other side. Two operators walk past, unaware of his presence, and so Frisk prepares to jump. As he's about to put the plan in action, a truck stops by. The 'thump!' Frisk's feet make when they hit the metallic rooftop make him yet more apprehensive. _It's this or my family._

"Permission to present myself, Lieutenant," the otter says, hopping off the truck and saluting.

"Permission granted, Sergeant. Got something for me?"

"Yes, ma'am." He quickly opens the backdoor, reading a box's tag and soon picking it up. He sets it down in front of the female. "MOON, Buster Brandon. A laptop and several printed images, plus some handwritten pages," he finishes, passing her a clipboard. She signs it off and returns it to him.

"Thanks, Jr."

"Welcome, Becca. You're goddamn lucky, you knew that?"

"How so?"

"Comfortably sitting here while the rest of us patrol."

"Don't fool yourself. I'm being _kept_ from patrolling, I would love to go on a raid."

"Only because you've never been to one," he sing-songs, "did you hear about the shootout at city limit? It was awful."

"Yeah, I did. You alright?" she asks, concern clear in her voice. The otter nods.

"As alright as I can be, Lieutenant. I was grazed by a bullet, no big deal. Just burned a bit."

"Ouch. Take care, okay?" She leans in further and pats his shoulder. He flinches.

"That's… where the bullet got me," he explains. She immediately retreats her hand, making him relax. "Thanks. I will. Oh, and back at you." Slowly, he hops back into the truck. "Tell dad I said hi."

"I will." As the truck starts moving, Rebecca lifts the box once again and moves towards the building. When she finally reaches the evidence room, the box is set down on top of a desk. She salutes the operator behind it. "Permission to present myself, Major."

"There's no need to do this every time you walk in here, Lieutenant. We're alone here and you're a graduate." She still stands saluting him. He merely smirks, waving her off. "Granted. What do we have here?"

"Files and evidence from the Moon case, sir."

"Is it that old son of a dog Munro Belle and the Beast Belleville's case?"

She checks the tag. "MOON, Buster Brandon. At the care of Capt. Munro Belleville."

"Well, open it up. Let's catalog this one now." He sets aside a few files he had been working on. "Sherlock Miller's case can wait."

"Always charming with the nicknames, sir."

Alan laughs. "Thank you, Rebecca. Part of this job is making fun of stuff. Once you master it, you can work with anything within these gates. There are only two guys here who master that art and have passed it down: me and Belleville. Had he kept working, you could've been assigned to him. As he was always in the front, I suppose you'd be having much more fun."

"But this is an equally entertaining job, sir."

"Don't try to please me," he chuckles. "If my leg was still with me, I'd be chasing thieves down the streets to this day. This is… sorry for the idiom, a pain in the ass. It was my first job as a LASPOD operator and seems like it will be my last," he laughs. "Not my favorite back then, not my favorite now."

"Well… you could always place your son in this position, sir. He seems to be quite hyped about working in an office."

"He's quite hyped about everything, just like Belleville was. Could've been his son," he says with a small chuckle as he opens Buster's laptop and sets it on a table. "But yeah, Lieutenant, that's a nice idea. I could share it with the Colonel." The woman nods, passing him a few files. "And now what's this?"

"Reports from the LASAOD and LAMAOD, it went through them to get here."

"Why in the sacred name of Pete would this go through the LASAOD? Moon is not a small animal."

She merely shrugs. "I wouldn't know, sir."

"Michael Peterson Kayes… I've heard that name before. Just a second." he picks up the phone, dialing a number and putting it on loudspeaker. The other speaker soon picks up. "Cue ball! How ya doing, pal?"

" _I was just about to call you, can you believe that?"_

"Of course. You can't live without me, Belleville," the otter laughs, and soon, the koala follows his lead. "Well, I called, so my subject is a priority. First things first, who the hell is Michael P. Kayes, what does he have to do with Moon, why was the file with the LASAOD, and where do I know that guy from?"

" _Michael Peterson Kayes, aka. 'Mike', graduate of the Lincoln School of Music, white mouse, is the reason Moon is in the hospital right now. Moon told me everything. Do you remember that singing contest he put up a while back?"_

"Remember it? I participated," he fiddles idly with contents from the box. "Why?"

" _Well, Mike was one of the 'chosen few', and apparently he's a gambler. He cheated on the Russian Bears gang and they almost killed him. Twice. Well, the first time, he told the bears they could get the money from Moon, and told them he was their problem."_

"Oh, snap," he comments.

" _And now the theatre's successful, it's back to its former glory, everyone's happy, they try to get their money because they think Moon is Mike's partner."_

"What's the chance of that being true?"

" _0%. Nerds don't affiliate with gamblers, that's the rule. And so, I placed a search on Mike with the LASAOD, which is why the files passed through there. Which reminds me of why I called you in the first place."_

"Idiot, I called you! But what is it?"

" _Alexander William Frisk, badge #3435. What do we know about him?"_

"Which branch is he?"

_"LAMAOD. He's an otter, you've met him before. Pointed a gun to his face?"_

"Oh, _that_ guy!" he laughs.

The koala in the room soon speaks up. "I worked with him when I was a recruit."

" _Who's there?"_

"You're on loudspeaker," Ferguson explains, "that was Rebecca Campbell, class of 2017 and first woman in the LASPOD."

" _You made it! I knew you would!"_

She merely chuckles. "Thank you, sir. What is it that you want to know about him?"

" _Everything. Speak up, kid."_

"Okay. By my math, he's about 23. He's got an inferiority complex and just wants to do good at something. No one cared much for him and I never understood why. He seems to have a gambling problem, too, and by what he told me, he once was in debt with bears."

" _The Russian Bears gang or just any bear?"_

"He didn't specify."

" _Finito?"_

"Yes, sir."

" _Thanks, Rebecca. You're an angel. Fergie, you there?"_

"Always, you muppet. Can't move that fast anymore. What's up?"

" _Don't tell Wright what I'm about to tell you."_

"Hey, Majors don't have to report everything they hear. Is it something Rebecca can't hear?"

" _If she promises it won't leave this room until I have proof, yes."_

"I swear, sir," she says.

" _Alright. I'm suspecting Frisk is a high-caliber crook."_

Ferguson laughs. "Are you out of your mind?! He's not even a Sergeant yet!"

" _Shut it and listen to me! Okay, so what day was Buster shot?"_

"Do I look like a freaking calendar?! Spit it out!"

" _On the same day Buster was shot, Frisk placed the search for Mike."_

"So?"

" _It's too coincidental to be just a coincidence. And if he owes those bears anything, then I'll know I'm right. He's a pawn at their hands!"_

"Belleville, you're making a serious accusation. Are you willing to destroy a cop's career over your assumption?"

" _Not over an assumption. But as soon as I'm sure, and if he turns out to be a crook, yes."_

"Well, good luck then. It'll take more than matching dates to get him kicked."

" _Why the hell did he place it? He's not from the LASAOD. And in Major Jones' shift out of every possible officer's shift he could've placed it on…"_

"Hey, if your guy had a meeting in KFC, that wouldn't mean he's sitting with Colonel Scorpions."

" _What— you know what, I don't wanna understand that one. Let me just ask you a thing: what's the last time you've seen officers placing search requests outside of their branches, let alone have them accepted by, sorry for the pun, major crooks?"_

"He could be investigating the bears and it somehow got to Mike."

" _These bears are a LASPOD case. But if it was just any bear, it'd be a LABAOD case. Not the LAMAOD and_ definitely _not the the LASAOD. There's something going on here."_

"What is going on here?"

" _It's what I'm going to find out."_

"Good luck, Sherlock Hamster."

_"Cut me some slack, Fergie. Trying to figure out how all this is connected is hurting my head."_

"And it should be. As you said, it's weird. But hey, keep me posted."

_"Will do. See ya, Fergie. See ya, Rebecca."_


	19. Cheats and Crooks

"I can't believe you're finally awake!" Ash says with the hugest smile Buster's ever seen on her face. She soon buries her head in his chest, just enough to hurt a little. Buster bites back the pain as he hugs her back. "I missed you so much… you scared me!"

"I missed you too, love… heh… funny thing… the last face I saw before I passed out was yours…" he begins, his voice raspy, "that picture we took a few months back, right after the… reopening party, remember?"

"Yeah, I do. You keep it as your screensaver, yeah?"

"Yeah, that's right… I opened it just because… be… because..." he reaches out to touch her cheek, and Ash suddenly has the feeling she's not going to like what will come out of his mouth next. "I thought I was gonna..."

" _Don't._ Don't think about it, Buster..." she gently runs her hand through the soft fur on his cheeks, tears already forming in her eyes. "You're okay… you made it. It's gonna be okay... "

"I'm so sorry..."

"Babe, it was not your fault, it was those goddamn bears'..."

"I know, but… how didn't I see them there..?"

"No one's got eyes in their backs, you shouldn't blame yourself for that..."

Buster reclines back on the bed, pulling Ash along. She lands on top of him with a small 'thud!', altho it doesn't hurt as she holds herself up with one arm. But soon enough, she rests her head on his chest, gently tracing it. Buster's hand soon follows, touching the bandage around his chest.

"I still can't believe this happened… did you know it took me quite a while to accept I was really in the hospital?" he says with a laugh. He begins coughing along and tries desperately to hold himself down on the bed as his upper body jerks up and down with each of his coughs. Ash looks concerned as she sits up, unable to do anything in fear of making his condition worsen. Soon, his coughing fit is over, and so he lands back on the bed, exhaustion and pain plastered in his face. Ash rubs some sweat off his forehead.

"You good?"

"Yeah, I… I'm fine. It happened before."

"Is it… normal to hurt?"

"When your lungs are damaged, I suppose it is," he says, wryly. She giggles, resting her head on his chest once again.

"Does this hurt?"

"A little bit." When Ash tries moving away, he brings her face into his chest once again. She gives him a weird look, one that he retributes with a smile. "You're worth the pain."

* * *

"Rebecca, uh?"

"Yeah. Oh, and I keep forgetting to tell you this! Alright, drumroll please..." he drums his fingers over the steering wheel. "Rebecca is the first female to ever join the LASPOD! And more so, she didn't join through the administrative course. She joined through the operator course, which means me and her are in the exact same level. Well… she's a couple ranks lower, but hey, tomorrow's another day," he says with a laugh. "She did strike me as an awesome recruit, I'm sure she can go up the chain in no time!"

"You met her?"

"How do you think I know this? Yeah, I did. The course was still going on at the time, though, now she graduated and is a… Second Lieutenant, if I'm not forgotten. Wright said something about it in our Whatsapp group a few days ago."

"What's she like?"

"She's really nice, but lacks the characteristic aggressivity that operators have. She'll learn." Silence hovers over the couple for a few awkward moments before Munro leans in slightly, never taking his eyes off the road. "I thought you'd be more excited about this. You're the one who's always defending that women belong in all spaces, and when one joins one of the most sexist places in the world, you don't care," he laughs.

"No, it's not that I don't care. It's just..." she sighs, looking down at her hands.

"'It's just'..?"

"Nevermind. Just say congratulations if you see her again, please."

He alterns between looking at the street in front of him and looking at her. "Are… are you jealous? Are you seriously jealous?!" he laughs.

"No, I'm not. I'm just saying it is unlikely for me to meet her, so I'm asking you to congratulate her for me."

"I could always introduce you," he sing-songs, waving his hand. "And you'll see there's nothing to worry about, she's not that pretty."

"So now you notice that."

He shuts his eyes for a brief moment. _I really got to think before I speak._ "It's not like that."

"Then how is it?"

"Laura, I'm engaged. _We're_ engaged. I have no interest in her nor anything will happen between me and her."

"You can't promise me that."

"'Can't promise you that?' Well, last I checked, the one with a history of cheating between us was you!" His eyes grow wide as he covers his mouth, and the look Laura gives him makes him wish he could turn the arrow of time around, turn it around to go back and stop himself from saying that. It wasn't fair to her. She was always loyal to him. "I… didn't want to say that."

"Yeah, but you already did," she replies, cold-heartedly.

The rest of the trip is awkwardly silent. Munro knows he should say something, make what he just said less unfair and horrible. Sure… it was _true,_ but there was no reason for him to rub it in, and over what? Some provocation about some female recruit he had no interest in? Was he really that _proud?_ As soon as the car comes to a stop in front of their 3-bedroom apartment, he tries to touch her shoulder, only to have her get out of the car faster than his hand can reach her. Laura doesn't look at him or at the car for even a single moment as she shuts the door behind her and moves towards the building.

 _Ah, great, this is just what I needed,_ he thinks, retreating his hand to facepalm. He hops down from the car in the sequence, going after her. "Laura." She stops at the door to look for her keys, so he speeds up a little to reach her, and when he does, she's already about to enter the building. He takes her wrist. She closes her eyes for a moment before turning to look at him. "Laura, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say it, and it was cruel, and I'm really, really sorry."

It takes her a brief moment to reply, harshness not once leaving her tone. "Do you know how many people I've dated on my lifetime, Munro? Just a guess?"

"I… I mean, no. I don't. How many?"

"Ten, you included. Do you know how many I cheated on?" He shakes his head. "One. Moon. I was 19, dumb and adrenaline-driven, wanted to try different things. And over _one_ mistake I have to hear this, at 40. Have I ever thrown anything at your face, Munro?"

"No, you haven't."

"Then why did you?"

"I didn't think, okay? I'm sorry, Lau…"

"Well… you better start thinking, then." Before Munro can say anything else, she takes his hand and pulls it off her wrist, soon opening the door and going inside without looking at him again. He takes a small while to finally move and go inside, and when the elevator beeps his floor, he steps out and goes to the door. Laura's on the couch, watching TV.

"I gotta go somewhere real quick. Will you be okay on your own?"

She shrugs. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Just an idea… I'll be right back, Lau. Shouldn't take long."

* * *

" _This is Frisk."_

"Frisk, it's Becky! Remember me? We worked together at the LAMAOD, I was Chris Shepherd's partner."

" _Ohoho,_ the _Becky! Haven't seen you in so long! How's everything? Did you end up passing the course?"_

She nods. "Yes. Second Lieutenant Rebecca Campbell of the LASPOD at your service, sir."

" _Permission, Lieut. Respect!"_ he says, stretching the last syllable. She laughs.

"Granted. I just wanted to ask you something, something totally non-specific."

" _Go ahead, Lieut. What's up?"_

"Remember how you told me about your gambling addiction?"

" _Yeah. What about it?"_

"Did you happen to stumble across a gang known as the 'Russian Bears', or 'Russian Brothers'?"

Frisk swallows a gulp before speaking in the most confident voice he can let out. " _Russian Brothers, Russian Brothers… doesn't really ring a bell."_

"Huh. I remembered you mentioning a bear gang. Or was it boar?"

" _No, it was bear. Well, I got involved with them in a strictly professional manner. They spilled info about a guy I was going after, I arrested the guy, and that was it."_

"So they helped you."

" _Yeah, guess you can call that help. Why?"_

"No reason. I was just curious."

" _Are you investigating them?"_

"No… _I'm_ not."

" _Who is?"_

"Your new partner," she snickers.

" _Munro's not my partner, he's my…_ mentor," he chuckles. " _Who knows, maybe someday I don't take over for him in the LASPOD?"_

"Good luck with that," she laughs. "He's held in more esteem than some Colonels."

" _Well, I know."_ A beat passes before he goes on. " _Uh… did he say anything about me?"_

"Yeah, he wanted to know what we knew about you. No big deal."

" _What you… knew about me, why?"_

"Just hogwash. My trainer dismissed what he said, but between us… you don't happen to…" she laughs the next part out. "Still work with those bears, right? Because you're not dishonest."

" _Oh, get out of here!"_ he laughs, a bit nervously. " _I'm as clean as water!"_

"Knew you were," she snickers. "Just making sure."

" _Well, you got nothing to worry about."_

"Figures!" she deadpans, making him giggle. "Listen, my break's almost over. I should-"

" _Campbell!_ " Frisk can hear someone shout through the speaker.

" _Crap. Gotta go, Frisk. I call you some other time, okay?"_

"Okay. Go, go, go…"

As a ferret approaches her, she quickly stands up straight, saluting him.

"Yes, sir!"

"Are you patrolling today?"

"No, sir!" she replies, still in position.

"Good! You'll be in the lookout today."

"Sir, I am already assigned to the evidence room, sir!"

"Well, you're getting reassigned! Is that understood?!"

"Yes, sir!"

"What are you waiting for, missy?!" he asks, a bit louder.

"Sir, I'm waiting for permission to leave, sir!"

"Agh, get going, get going…" he snaps his fingers as he speaks and so she begins moving forward. "Who's your coordinator?"

She turns again, but doesn't salute him this time. "Sir, my trainer is Major Fergunson, sir!"

"Trainer? Wait… you're graduated?!"

"Sir, yes, sir." She shows the sole star imprinted on her camouflaged uniform.

"Damn it, why did I think you were a Sergeant?"

"I…I wouldn't know, sir."

"Eh, must be the uniform…" he tugs on her sleeves, before lightly punching her chin. "And attitude. This isn't police, you hear me? Us graduates are all the same unless there are missions being given out or events with citizen participation, you hear me? You don't have to salute me just because I'm a couple ranks higher than you. Save it for the Colonels and Lieutenant Colonels and Majors. Understood?"

"Yes, sir."

"Dismissed. Get going, shifts are ending just about now." She nods, finally heading downhill.

* * *

Frisk puts down the phone and slowly leans into the wheel, his eyes shut tight and his heart shattered inside his chest. He even cries a little. " _I don't wanna do it, I don't wanna do it, I don't…"_ he whispers into the wheel, his voice teary and pained. A small flash catches his eyes and he picks up his phone to read the message.

" _U there yet?"_

He looks down at his lap. "Why me?" What if there was someone in there? What if Rebecca worked there? How many animals were in the building? Couldn't the explosion make part of it, or all of it, crash down? And if it did, couldn't the debris roll downhill and maybe hurt Pete knows how many animals? Innocent animals, animals that weren't to blame for his crooked shenanigans. The detonator is on the passenger seat, one press and _boom!_ His family would be safe and he'd be even with the bears, or so he _hoped_. But how many lives was he willing to ruin to accomplish that? Let alone the fact that no one in the LASPOD was stupid, they would end up finding out he was the one who exploded the building. What would happen to Munro then? He would be fired at best. Perhaps he'd be dishonorably discharged, have his reputation ruined.

Frisk slowly looks up at the front of his car. Slowly, he picks up his gun, places it on the panel, and spins it. The gun rotates a few times before coming to a stop, barrel pointed at him. He sighs. _Best out of three?_ He spins it again, getting the same result: barrel pointed at him. _It's this or this, idiot… what are you waiting for? What do you have to lose? Some old guy's reputation? Some old operator's life? They already live in the shadow of death anyway because of their job. Aspen… and Valerie, on the other hand… they're counting on you, idiot... just do it already… just… press the button… just…_ He shuts his eyes tightly, picking up the detonator. _Press the button… just… just do it…_

_Click._

Frisk can hear the explosion far in the distance as he drives back home. He taps on the wheel all the way, as if that would lessen the severity of what he just did. However, as he pulls over in front of his and Aspen's and soon to be Valerie's house, he looks at his gun once again. It's still on the panel. He wraps his fingers around it, spins and…

The barrel still points at him. He makes a weird face. Then, his phone beeps.

" _SUKIN SYN! WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST DO?!"_


	20. Past and Bug

Frisk is frightened by the message. What did they mean 'what had _he_ done?' He did as he was told! Picking up his phone, he starts typing away.

" _I did what you asked me to!"_

_"We gave u a Molotov. Why the hell did u use dynamite?!"_

_"Because I wanted to get out of there before everything caught fire? Why, what's the problem with it?"_

The last message takes a small while to arrive. " _Wait for our contact."_

Frisk finds it weird, but decides not to question them any further. He grabs his badge, gun, backpack and gets out of the car, soon starting to walk towards his house. But he doesn't reach it before bumping into a familiar face, one that was trotting on the sidewalk.

"Captain?"

"Frisk! How nice seeing you out here." Discontinuing his walking pattern, Munro comes over to hug the otter. "What are you doing out here?"

"I live here," he replies, hugging the man back. "What about you? Jogging?"

"Yeah," he looks at where he came from with a pensive face. "Guess I strutted too far from home," he then laughs, "I'll probably need a cab to go back. I can't walk as much as I could when I was your age."

"Nonsense, Captain," Frisk notices. "Well… why don't you come inside? Aspen always overcooks."

"No, for Pete's sake… I hate to be a bother."

"You're not a bother, in fact… I had breakfast at your place just the other day and it's only fair you eat dinner at mine tonight. You're already here!"

"Why…" he scratches the back of his head with a grunted laugh. "Guess I'll accept it. Thanks, Frisk."

"No problem, Cap—" he corrects himself just in time with a stare from the other man. "Munro. Sorry. It's the habit."

"I noticed that," he chuckles, patting the otter's back as he pulls him into a side hug. "Can only take so many calls of 'Captain' before I stare at somebody."

"Figures," Frisk replies, grabbing his keys. Munro's phone rings and the man quickly turns around to check it, then turns to the otter once again.

"It's from work," he whispers. "It'll only take a second."

Frisk's eyes widen. _Oh no._ "Okay! I'll leave the door unlocked, come on in after you're done!" he says, his voice more squeaky and and rushed than he had intended it to be.

Munro turns, walking towards the small fence at the porch. "Belleville."

 _"Belleville, it's Wright,"_ a voice somberly speaks.

"Colonel? What is it?" he asks, lightly fearful of the answer, and the fact the answer takes a few moments to arrive doesn't really help.

_"Someone put a bomb in the LASPOD. Fergunson is dead."_

Munro stops dead in his tracks for a moment before letting out a soundly laugh. "Good one, Colonel. Almost fell for it." Silence on the other side. He gulps. "Wright..?"

_"I'm not joking, Belleville."_

"You're— b… but… how, why would, how could they—" he pauses to collect his thoughts. "Who? Who did it?"

_"It's what we're trying to find out. By the size of the explosion, it was a class B or possibly even C explosive."_

"Both class B and C are restricted."

_"Which is why our intelligence department think this is an inside job. I doubt anyone at the LASPOD would be stupid enough to do this, so we're trying to retrieve images from the security cameras."_

"What was the target? Or who was the target?"

_"The bomb was planted in the evidence room. It's unknown if the perpetrator wanted to kill a specific operator."_

Munro stops, turning back to the house. He moves closer to it and looks through the window at Frisk. The man takes off his coat, neatly rests it on a chair, kisses his wife and even talks with her protuberant belly for a moment before they enroll into conversation. Could it be?

_"Earth to Belleville. The hell you doing there?"_

"Uh..?" he turns to the street in front of the house once again, his attention severely compromised. Once he can finally focus again, he shakes his head. "Ah. Sorry. No, just… got distracted here, I'm sorry."

_"Getting distracted during a shootout can cost your life, you know that."_

"Thank Pete I'm not in one right now."

 _"I would be very careful with my thoughts, Belleville,"_ the man warns, _"this could be a message to the LASPOD in its totality. If I were you, I'd be looking over my shoulder."_

"Something's telling me this was because of Buster's laptop. I mean… in the same day it's turned in that happens, and—"

_"Got the same vibe. And if that's the case, watch out. They might be coming for you too."_

"Noted, Colonel. Thank you and uh… keep me posted, alright?"

_"Will do."_

A flash of memory suddenly rushes through Munro's mind. Pete damn it. "Wright, wait! Wright..?"

_"Yeah?"_

"What about…" he can feel the words clogging his throat and, suddenly, feels like crying. "Fergie's son? Does he..?"

_"Anyone with eyes and ears knows what happened. It's unfortunate."_

"Pete damn it, he must be crushed."

_"What do you care?"_

"My father died in the exact same fashion, Wright! I can only imagine how Jr's feeling!"

_"Well, he's been crying for about ten minutes now. The poor kid. Barely graduated and already—"_

"Give him a hug for me, will you? I'll… get this thing here over with and try to drop by."

_"Alright. Wright off."_

The higher-ranking operator hangs up. Munro merely puts his phone back in his pocket and stares at the horizon in front of him, desolated. Fergunson had taken the course with him and they had remained the best of friends ever since. He was one of the very few true friends Munro had.

* * *

_Panthergonia, 1985_

_"Sheriff! You have one minute to put these thugs in position in the cerimonial area!"_

_"Yes, sir!" Munro said, quickly saluting the man before standing up and turning to his colleagues. "Come on! Let's go everybody!"_

_The group scrambles to get in position as fast as they could. Some of them had been sheriffs themselves, and knew just exactly what happened to those who didn't do as told. Munro himself prostrates in front of the group, holding his gun in position and facing the instructors. One of them takes a step ahead and slaps him straight in the face._

_"Is this shift in shape?!"_

_"Yes, sir!"_

_"Look back!"_

_He does as told. As some fellows aren't positioned yet, he yells to the class._

_"Shift, position! Present arms!" He then stands in position once again, facing the trainer. "They're in shape, sir!"_

_"Is the shift in shape?!"_

_"Yes, sir!"_

_"What about your untied boots? You animal!" He grabs a bamboo stick and hits Munro with it and as the man falls, several instructors gather around to kick him, shouting insults. "You animal! 04, follow me!" The koala follows the man to a river bank. The instructor points to a boat on the other side. "Since you already have your boots untied, you'll unequip and bring me that boat. Is that understood, 04?"_

_"Yes, sir," he says, almost in a pained voice as he starts taking his boots off._

_"04… you know why you can't do this?"_

_"Yes, sir…"_

_"It's not just because you're weak. It's because to graduate this course here," he repeatedly hits the emblem of Jungle Operations in his own shirt, "you need to be brave. A thing that you aren't, 04. Are you going to bring me that boat?"_

_"Yes, sir," he says, fatigued, finally putting his boots down and starting to take the camo shirt off._

_"Are you bringing that boat back?!"_

_"Yes, sir!"_

_"Let's see if you can do this!"_

_As Munro strips down to his bathing suit, another instructor corners him._

_"Go home, 04, you're weak. Ask to go, you can't do this."_

_Munro, for the first time, stares at one of them. "Negative, sir." With that, he goes into the water. Soon after, the boat is anchored on this side of the river, much to the amusement of all instructors present._

_"Good! Now get going." The koala joins the shift once again, standing in position, his back turned to the instructor. "Atten-HUT, shift! At… ease! Front to… rear!"_

_Every animal turns with a single jump. "SPECIAL OPERATIONS!" They belt out._

_"You'll never be! None of you will!" The instructors provoke, pointing to the group._

_"Attention, 12!"_

_It takes a moment for the cat to reply. "Yes, sir!"_

_"You're the new sheriff, 12!"_

_Once again, he takes a moment to retort. "Sir, I give up, sir!"_

_As one of the soldiers push him away from the rest, the instructors cheer. "You're making your coordinator very happy, gentleman! Thank you, gentleman! Thank you!"_

_As the night falls, students go back inside their barrack, hoping that, for one night, there won't be any surprises awaiting them or random training at ungodly hours. Munro, however, stays behind, going over to the river bank and staring into the horizon as he sits on a log. Not long after, he can feel a slap on the back._

_"Nicely done, fuzz-face."_

_"Shut up, 03."_

_"Hey, just making conversation, that's all," the otter casually says. "It can get really lonely out here and, technically, I have more experience in staring off than you do." He extends his hand. "Fergunson."_

_Munro takes it. "Belleville."_

_"Let me tell you, those bloodshot eyes you used to stare at Milton were impressive."_

_"You think so?"_

_"Hell yeah. You could've melt iron right then and there," Alan jokes. The koala laughs._

_"Thank you. I don't know where it came from."_

_"Hey, this thing's supposed to shape us into the most prepared guys who don't work for the President, right? Guess you're getting it. I want to have that stare someday."_

_"When we graduate, I could teach you."_

_"I would really like that. How's your head?"_

_"Rather fine. My feet are the main issue."_

_"Try those lukewarm rocks that 14 is using. That thing is miraculous, all my wounds closed overnight."_

_"Might as well give it a go."_

_"You really should. Well…" he pats his own legs as he stands up. "If I don't go back, they'll be wondering what happened to me. You shouldn't stay out here for long," he suggests, walking ahead._

_"Hey." The otter turns. "Why are you doing this?"_

_"Small guys of the world unite," he shrugs with a laugh. "We got nothing to lose but loneliness. We're rare in police. And we'll make fine operators, all of us will. 01, 02, me, you, 07, 14… we'll do it."_

* * *

He's brought back to reality by light taps on the door right behind him. Frisk opens it and peeks out.

"Is everything alright?" Genuine concern — as if he didn't know what had happened — was clear in his voice.

"What?" he asks, a bit airheaded. He shakes his head to force it to work. "Oh. Yeah. It's alright. Everything's fine."

"'Fine' isn't 'good'," Frisk states, walking to the porch and leaning over the fence. "What _really_ happened? You look like you were hit by a train."

"I was. Well, figuratively speaking." Frisk looks over his shoulder at the man. Munro sighs. "Someone put a bomb in the LASPOD and it killed a good friend of mine."

 _Oh no. No, no, no, no. This_ was exactly what he had feared. What had he done? Suddenly, Frisk's hit with a truck of guilt and his tone turns extremely sincere. "I… I'm sorry, Captain."

"It's okay. Not your fault."

 _Yes it is._ "Heh," he awkwardly laughs out. The koala turns to him and puts a hand on his shoulder.

"Well, let's get going, shall we? I'm kinda starving."

"Yeah! Yeah. Let's… let's get going."

* * *

"Captain, this is my wife Aspen. Aspen, this is Captain Belleville, he's been mentoring me for a while now."

"Don't be silly. You don't need a mentor," the koala laughs, shaking her hand. "And please… Munro. Leave 'Captain' to the enlisted ranks."

"Munro," she repeats, "it's nice meeting you."

"Equally."

"Munro's staying over for dinner tonight," Frisk informs. "Is that a problem? You always cook enough to feed a small family," he recalls with a laugh.

She retorts with a chuckle. "Well, I suppose that's true…" she then addresses the koala. "Hope you like mayo salad and mashed potatoes with roasted chicken breast."

He looks up in thought for a brief moment. "Three of my favorite foods."

Nodding at him, she leaves both men alone as she disappears into the kitchen.

"Well, it's make yourself at home I guess," Frisk chuckles.

"Thanks, Frisk."

"Don't mention it. Like I said, it's only fair."

"And very kind of you," Munro adds, eyebrow raised. "I'm hardly ever invited for dinner."

"For lunch you are?"

"What?"

"Ha!" Both laugh. "Jokes aside, Captain, you don't have to thank me. It's nice having you over."

"Thanks for that."

"Boys, dinner's ready!"

"Shall we?" Frisk asks. Munro just walks ahead.

"We shall."

* * *

"This is one of the best meals I've ever consumed in my entire life."

"Oh, it's nothing," Aspen replies, lightly flushed.

"You should've tried the pork we ate last week," the other otter comments. "It would melt in your mouth."

"Sounds delightful."

"It was," he confirms. "We should do this more often."

"We should! A few friendly reunions have never hurt anybody," Munro comments with a small laugh.

"So, Munro," Aspen starts. The eyes of both males fall upon her. "What is this thing that Frisk told me about you going back to work while being retired?"

The other otter's blood freezes inside his veins. He restrains himself to looking at the koala, who chuckles. "Nah, I didn't 'go back to work'. Retirement's just too good to be quitted," he declares with a soundly laugh. "Let's agree on me coming back to help because I'm just that good," he beams proudly, a smile plastered on his face. "Plus, I was the one in charge of handling these criminals back when I worked, and now that they're back, it's only fair that I come back too to bring them hell. As soon as that's done, I'm out again."

"Aren't you afraid of getting hurt? For how many years have you been out?"

"Since 2013, that's…" he scratches the back of his head in thought before letting out a small giggle. "If my fiancée was here we'd already have the answer. 2017, that's the seven minus three, that's… four years, with a margin of error of 97%," he jokes. "But before that, there were 27 good honored years of service, plus five gunshot wounds and three stab wounds, so no, I'm not afraid of getting hurt," he laughs. "Nothing scares me anymore."

"Oh, you're engaged, uh?" she asks, a small smile on her face.

"To the best woman in the world," he declares, a silly grin appearing on his face as he pulls his phone out and shows her a picture of Laura. The otter nods.

"Congratulations. When is the wedding?"

"April next year. It'll be in the 20th if I'm not forgotten… I'll make sure to send you both an invitation," he assures, winking. "And what about you two, uh? For how long have you been together?"

"Two years now. Two great years," Frisk replies.

"Let me guess… high school sweethearts?"

"Sort of," Aspen begins. "I was a freshman when Frisk was a senior and that's how we met."

"We started dating at the end of the year, right, love?" Frisk asks, a hand rubbing his temples.

"Yeah. In October we were already together, by 2015 we were already engaged, and after I got pregnant, we rushed the wedding a small bit."

"And when are you due?"

"Next week. I have a C-section scheduled to Friday."

"And by what Frisk told me, a girl, eh?" He looks up in thought. "Val… Valeria… Valerie! Is that correct?" She nods. "Beautiful name."

"Thank you. It was my grandmother's name."

"Your great-grandmother must've had a great taste," he laughs, prompting the couple to follow his lead.

"Well, I suppose she did," Aspen confirms. A second later, she can feel a kick in her belly. "Oof!" Followed by contractions. "Ah!"

Frisk's quickly startled by the sudden shout and the fall of her cutlery to the floor. Soon, she hops off her chair, holding her protuberant abdomen. Her husband's by her side in a split second.

"Love, what is it?! Are you okay?!"

"Do I look okay to you?!" She grabs his hand. "It hurts so much!"

Frisk winces at the bone-crushing grip she takes before looking over at Munro. "Open the door!"

"On it!" The koala jumps off his chair and makes a run to the door, quickly doing as told. He stands outside, and when the couple passes him by, he gently takes the woman's arm. "Listen, Aspen, it's gonna be okay, okay? Just… take deep breaths…" he inhales deeply, and she mimics him.

She manages to pant out an 'alright', and then her husband helps her into the car. Munro finally comes closer to them to give the car a pat. As Frisk hops into the driver's seat, he shoots the koala a grateful look.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome. Now go, rush to that hospital," he playfully nudges him through the open window, " _daddy._ "

Frisk laughs before putting the key in the ignition, the car into the first gear, and speeding off, leaving the koala behind. He makes such a quick turn that the tires screech. Soon, they are out of sight.

"Wouldn't be a woman if my life depended on it. Good Pete…" he mutters to himself. He then sighs as he pulls a small device out of his pocket and turns it on. The screen lightens up to reveal two red circles, one of them speedily moving further from the other. Munro expertly fidgets with the buttons in it.

 _"Target: Frisk. Distance: 45 meters,"_ a robotic voice says.

He cracks his knuckles. "Alright, Frisk… let's see in which team are you playing."

" _Target moving erratically. Distance: 57 meters."_


	21. Pig Mothers and Discovery

"Mr Moon!" Johnny cheerily says.

" _Ja_ , super cool! You're up!"

Buster laughs as much as his lungs allow him to as he receives hugs and high-fives from his closest friends, the cast members of his first successful show.

"Takes a lot more than a bullet to bring me down," he jests, going into a brief coughing fit as an elephant walks up to him.

"Mr Moon, I baked these cookies for you, and there's also a card in there from all of us," Meena courteously says, setting the tray of baked goods in front of her boss.

"Can't wait to try them. Hello again, Meena," he says, presenting her a warm smile. He then looks at the door. "Is Rosita here too?"

" _Nein_ , she had a doctor appointment. She says she's sorry," Gunter informs.

"Huh. Ah, well… good for her watching for her health, tell you that," he reaches out to take Ash's hand. She's eyeing the door with a wary glare, so he cautiously takes her hand. Ash jolts up like she was just woken from a trance and, upon fully regaining her senses, she smiles down at him.

"Rosita may not be here, but I am," Eddie says, in fake hurt and pretend disbelief. "Doesn't your friend of other decades deserve a hug?" He jokes.

Buster shoots him a humorous look. "Get in here." He opens his arms and the sheep gladly goes into them. "It's nice seeing you again. Seeing all of you again."

"Back at ya, Buster."

"It's a relief to know you're alright," Johnny comments. Buster nods, stretching out and readjusting the pillows under his head, not without some help from Ash. He gives her a brief grin as his head falls back.

"Thanks, Ash."

"Welcome, Moon," she replies. She then addresses the gorilla. "How's the thing with your father going?"

"It's driving me insane. I've never been to a parole hearing…" he scratches behind his head, then looks down. "I'm scared. What if they don't make it..?"

"I thought they were reformed," Meena says.

"They are, but how do I prove that? It's not doable."

"Didn't Munro say he was gonna talk to a judge or what not?" Ash asks.

"Yeah, he did. I don't know if he's done it already, if he hasn't, it has to be done soon. The hearing is this Friday."

"He may drop by later, you could ask him."

"Yeah, I'll do that. But it doesn't settle my nerves," he says, his head hanging. He grips the bars on the bed and Buster gently takes it.

"Don't worry, John—" he practically coughs the boy's name out, then putting a hand over his mouth. "Sorry. It happens. Anyways, Johnny… have you ever heard an old saying that goes ' _que sera, sera_ '?" The kid looks puzzled. "It is 'whatever will be, will be' in Latin. In other words, what it shall be, will be, and thus—" he coughs again. "You shouldn't worry, because there's nothing you can do to change it. If it's for the best that they are released, they will be. You'll see."

"Heh. Thanks, Mr Moon."

"It's just Buster," he smiles.

* * *

Night falls as the cast bids their goodbyes and leave the place. First, it was Johnny, whose services were required by some animal who just crashed his car. Then, it was Gunter, who needed to teach his dance lessons. Then, it was Meena, whose mom had come to pick her up, but not before she had an opportunity to share a rather pleasant meal with the remnants. Then, it was Eddie, but by then it was already night and the sheep had been practically sleepwalking for a time. Now, there was just a bedridden Buster and his girlfriend Ash.

Hadn't it been for a late-night visitor.

"Did you have fun today?" Ash asks, leaning into Buster's chest.

He chuckles. "Course I did. I missed all of you," he states, gently pecking her lips. " _Especially_ you _._ " She closes her eyes, letting out a satisfied grunt.

"Ahem." Both turn to the door, quickly breaking apart. The dim lights outside of the room do not allow the couple to see who their visitor is until the figure steps into the room.

Ash squints her eyes. "Rosita."

The pig leans into the bed, her expression unreadable. Ash suddenly feels uneasy.

"Hey there, Rosita! It's good to see you again!" Buster cheers.

Awkward silence hovers upon the porcupine and the pig for a moment before the latter sighs. "Ash, may I speak to Buster, please? In private?"

"Rosita, don't start this."

"Start what?" The koala looks at the pig.

"Nothing. I just want to have a quick word with you, that's all."

Buster cracks a small smile as he nods. "Yeah, sure. Ah… Ash, could you please wait outside? I'm sure it won't take long."

Ash shoots him a concerned look, but bows her head briefly before hopping off the bed. On her way out, she walks by Rosita, who reaches out for her. The rocker, however, ignores the pig mom as she exits the room. Rosita lets out a defeated sigh, soon turning to Buster, and straightening her shirt. The look she gives him makes him regret sending Ash away and, suddenly, he realizes.

She knows something she shouldn't know. That _no one_ can know. Not for another few months. She knows about them.

Rosita ponders over her next words carefully as she approaches the bed. "So it is true."

"What is?" he risks.

"You and Ash. You are… a _thing._ "

He sighs, for a brief moment considering to lie. "Yes. Yes, we are."

Rosita's eyes widen. Well, she already knew. She had eavesdropped on Munro saying it, Ash had told her, but hearing Moon _himself_ saying it was different. As in a reflex, she takes a step ahead before sending her hand crashing down on the koala's cheek.

"Ow!" He holds it in shock.

"How can you do something like this?!" she asks, enraged. "She's a child!"

"17 is not a—" he coughs. "Child! And she's turning 18 in two months!"

"Well, and how old are _you?_ Do you think this is fine?!"

He enters a coughing fit halfway into her speech. He raises his hand high. "42. And no. No, I didn't think this was right. In fact, I used to feel like a criminal until Ash reassured me! I'm not pushing her into anything, if anything, it's the other way around! She's the one who never saw a problem in our—" he coughs. "Relationship!"

"She doesn't know what she's doing, Buster, she's a _child!_ You are supposed to be the adult and reject her advances!"

"Why should I? I love her!"

Rosita gasps. "Y-you… you…" she stutters. "You know, I hate saying this because it's really offensive to my species, but you are a _pig!_ A disgusting pig!"

"I'm a pig for being with someone whom I love and who loves me?!"

"Yes! Yes, you are! Do you have any idea of how many women there are out there? Someone near your age, too, but you rather prey on a kid!"

" _Prey?!"_ Buster venomously spats out. He then takes a deep breath. "Leave. I don't have to hear this."

"Yeah, you're not the kind that enjoys the _truth._ "

* * *

Munro sighs into the front door as his forehead rests against it. He _hated_ going home after an argument, especially if he was in the wrong. He made sure to grab some making-up food at a restaurant Laura adores, and he's pretty sure that the strong smell has already entered the apartment. Slowly, he turns the key in the lock and peeks his head in. No sign of his fiancée, so he walks in. That gives him at least a few minutes to get everything ready.

He sets the four different bags of Japandese food on the counter. Not without effort, he doesn't gag at the smell once. It may be a good sign. Maybe he's getting used to it, and maybe he will try raw fish tonight. _Perhaps if she insists,_ he thinks, chuckling to himself. He also made sure to buy some of the cooked fish, too, just in case he can't handle the raw one. And sweet rolls. Those are there too.

"Munro?" He scrambles to get in front of the tray containing the food.

"Yesss..?" Laura looks at him as if he had grown a second head. He sighs. "I'm sorry, okay? I don't like fighting you or hurting your feelings, and what I said was wrong and I will never say it again. So I figured I could just…" he steps aside. "Grab some food at that Rosa Takeimatzu, Takemonkey, I don't know—" She giggles into her hand, so he smiles. That was good. "I'll never pronounce it correctly."

"Takenmatsu, but I find your pronunciation cuter," she comments. He grins, bowing.

"Thanks, love. So yeah, I just… got some food. For us."

"Want some help?"

"Yeah, I— no. No need to," he says with a smile.

"Are you sure?" she asks, uncertain. "It looks heavy."

"What, that?" He points to the tray, laughing. "No, no… pretty sure you're heavier than it." In a sudden move, he picks her up in his arms, earning a surprised gasp. Altho taken aback, she merely chuckles and rolls her eyes as she puts one hand on his chest. "And see? Not having trouble with it..," he brings her closer.

She wraps one of her arms around him while leaning in to kiss his neck. He shivers, letting out a low moan as her lips ghost the fur up there. In return, he embraces her, returning her kisses and gripping handfuls of her shirt. Slowly, he puts her back down so he can envelop her in his arms without much effort.

Soon after, Laura slowly pulls away from him, lingering in the hug before they finally break apart. Munro's looking down at her with a worried look, one that she sends away with a small peck on his lips. Altho not in direct contact, their bodies are still close as Munro's arms are wrapped around her in a fierce grip. It takes Laura some time to loosen them up. "Living room or terrace?"

"Whichever you prefer. But if you choose the living room, let us watch that new comedy 'Wasp of the Sexes'. I think you're gonna love it."

She laughs. "Sure we can. I'll get everything settled there while you finish here," she says, walking away.

"H-hey!" She stops dead in her tracks, looking back at him. His ears lay flat against his head. "Are we good..?"

She nods. "Yeah. We're good."

* * *

The static sound is the first thing the couple hears as they wake from their sleep.

" _I just want to understand what did I do wrong."_

" _You are an idiot. Had I known Koslov gave you a Molotov, I would've never given you dynamite. Word of advice, don't cross their orders."_

" _Yeah, and die among the flames. Real smooth, Jones. Thanks."_

" _Get something through your thick skull,"_ one of the voices hisses. " _The LASPOD is off limits. If you kill one of them, all of them will come after you. It was dangerous enough to use a Molotov, who'll say dynamite."_

" _They why did you give it to me?!"_

" _I didn't know about the Molotov! And you, you frisky bastard, better watch out for your tail. Your friend is hot on your tracks."_

" _Munro?"_

" _Yes."_

He gulps. " _How hot..?"_

" _Hot enough to burn you."_ Pause. " _I'm gonna kill Hoffman. He should've never assigned you to Belleville, it was a huge mistake. You newbies need to be_ forged _first, you don't know the drill."_

" _Let me remind you I never wanted to be part of this!"_

The other voice chortles. " _Frisk."_ Pause. " _Who do you think you are fooling? You wanted it. You know you wanted it. You're just like the rest of them… it was too much money to just turn away. And what do you have to do in exchange? Turn a blind eye… eventually run an errand or two. And now you are able to provide to your wife and infant daughter with the best."_

" _I did_ _ **not**_ _want this."_

" _You know what the people who 'don't want this' do? They turn down the initial offer, never become a pawn in the first place. Like your friend there. Back when we were both newbies, a Sergeant approached him with a large sum of money. It was something bearing tens of thousands of dollars, and all Belleville had to do was provide security for Koslov. His response? He punched the Sergeant in the gut."_

" _Whoa whoa whoa, what are you saying? Koslov wanted him as a bodyguard?"_

" _As did three other gangs. The guy was keen and tough, the perfect combo. He would've made a fine crook, had he not retaliated our advances. But that… punching that Sergeant was the last straw. He had to go. Some guys even tried setting up a trap for him, but he was always a step ahead. Even got back at one of them. Not three months after, the Koreanewt War began, and he enlisted to some Special Operations course, probably to get away. The war ended before their training was completed. Extremely skilled, every single one of them. Incorruptible, likewise. It terrified our superiors. If these guys went back to the normal branches, they'd ruin our schemes. So, they were given a black uniform, a hill to call home, a fancy name, and that was it. It all fits perfectly in. They work to undo the things that we do and never get in our way. Sure, eventually one or two of us die. But they also assist us in making big bucks."_

" _How so?"_

_"We collect bribe, they patrol, arrest the criminals, turn them in, the criminals give us more money to release them. As simple as that. Oh, and raids. Good Pete, I love raids. They raid up a place, arrest people, we show up to collect evidence, mostly money. Some of it doesn't make it back to the evidence room, so what? You'll get to go to raids, don't worry."_

_"Got it."_

_"You wanna know what was Belleville's nickname?"_

_"What?"_

" _Crook hunter. He knew exactly who was a crook and who wasn't, and made sure to give us hell. He had a few judge friends, so it is easy for him to turn a LABAOD, LAMAOD or LASAOD case into a LASPOD one so we couldn't work it out."_

" _Like he did in the Moon case."_

" _Yeah. Geez…"_ she laughs. _"This guy could detect dishonesty miles away. No wonder he blew your cover. You newbies, so dumb."_

" _Thanks, Jones. Anything else?"_

" _Nope, that's about everything. I'll try to hold the bears back, but can't promise you anything."_

" _Whatever you can do is a big help. Erm… thanks, Jones."_

" _Welcome, officer. Jones out."_

The voices are soon replaced by the hang up sound. Laura's staring at the radio, unsure of what to do. Munro, on the other hand, is trembling in anger.


	22. Slaps and Operations

"You can't blame yourself for this."

"Watch me."

"Don't do that. Think about it…" she takes his arm as she speaks in a soft voice. "How could you have known..? These guys don't come with a star on their foreheads…"

"Laura!" He says in a jolt, quickly releasing his arm from her hold. She retreats at his outburst, so he raises a hand. "Sorry. But I totally should've seen it coming! I took a leap in the dark, I didn't run Frisk through the system, checked his background, nothing! I jumped in like a rookie, like I didn't know 70% of police is corrupt!"

"Munro." Laura takes a step ahead, gently touching his shoulders, since he had turned away from her in the middle of his rant. They sag under her touch and she takes advantage of that, using them to turn him around. She guides up his shoulders to his face, holding it. "Look at me." She rewards him with a kind smile when his eyes meet hers, and so, she softly caresses his cheeks. He closes his eyes. "Look at me." He opens them again. "No one is careful all times at all the time. Yeah, you did this for a big portion of your life, what does it change..?"

"I should've foreseen it."

"You can't anticipate everything. You've done this plenty of times in 27 years and many of those times you did it flawlessly, but trust me when I say this… in _many_ others you missed something." He shakes his head, so she holds it still. "Yes. Yes, you did. You may not notice that now because the consequences didn't come back to bite you in the butt. You can't blame yourself for missing something."

"He was right under my radar, Laura."

"There's no way you could've guessed it," she insists. She then closes the distance between their mouths, planting a gentle kiss on his lips, one that Munro gladly retributes. "Okay?"

He lowers his head to Laura's shoulder, then nods into it. "Yeah. Alright."

* * *

"She slapped you?"

"I thought you heard it. It bounced off the walls," Buster begins, rubbing his cheek for a more dramatic effect. Ash rolls her eyes with a small chuckle. "I'm just curious as to _how_ she found out. Did you say something?"

"No," Ash replies. She then bites down on her lip. " _I_ didn't."

"Oh, geez… who else knows?"

"No one who shouldn't," she assures. "It was Munro. Back when you were still..," she stops herself, "you know… I slept here for a few days and, as you know, he's looking into the bears to arrest them. He just came in here to talk to me and referred to you as my boyfriend. Rosita was here too, unbeknownst to us, and heard it."

"Oh for Pete's sake."

"Sucks to be you right now, I know. We have got to be extra careful from now on. I think…" she leans in closer to whisper. "I have a feeling that she'll go to the police if she has enough evidence."

"You think so?"

"Well, she did seem pretty determined to break us up, so I'd say that's the easiest way of doing so."

He giggles. "Alright."

"But hey…" she says, a hint of seductiveness clear in her voice. "Guess what's coming up in a month and three weeks."

"I can't believe you're counting it," he says with an amused chuckle.

"I've been counting it for the past 17 years, 10 months and one week, it's all about freedom."

"When it was my turn, I counted it too," he comments. Ash laughs.

"Oh really?"

"Yes really. Heh… you know, on the day before my birthday, I couldn't even sleep… and made sure my dad didn't either. Well… not until midnight, I wasn't cruel enough to ask him to stay up all night with me. I thought something amazing happened when you turned 18, but eh... it just brought more responsibility. I was left pretty disappointed," he ponders, a small chuckle leaving him.

"Oh, shut up," she says, lightly shoving him with a laugh. "You're not making me one ounce less excited about it, Moon."

"Not my intention," he winks. "I was just sharing my experience."

* * *

"24-12-1986-01, Christmas massacre. Eleven bullet cartridges. Damaged bag, five cartridges missing," the coroner concludes, passing the bag over to another operator. "07-02-1992-27, Smith, Susan B. Family portrait, completely destroyed," he, too, handles that piece over to a nearby operator. "Erm…" he flips a third item over. "Moon, Buster Brandon. Not tagged. A laptop, partially wrecked."

"Hard drive?"

"Hard to recover. It was near the bomb when it went off."

"It's an open case, you need to recover—"

"I know who did this." All operators bent over the rubble turn to their unexpected visitor, who salutes. "Colonel Wright. Lieutenant Colonel Briggs."

The latter looks at the former, who bows his head. "At ease."

Munro shoots a look at all lower rank operators who were accompanying the scene, the deceased's son included. This one, crying his eyes out. The koala's heart breaks for him. He knows just how much that hurts. He had gone through it several times: first his father, then an uncle, then his brother, and then it slowly came down to only him, his sister, and their descendants being the only bearers of the Belleville surname.

More so, he thought about the boy's father as a brother — which, in a way, he was. They were brothers in profession, going through hell and back together. He was there when Fergunson took a bullet to his knee. Fergunson was there when he was shot in the shin. His friend was even the operator who carried him, taking him out of the danger zone. They were as thick as thieves, but on this side of the law. Always had each other's backs.

Well, they _used to_ have each other's back. But that had been before Munro brought an officer into their battalion, thus causing the death of his friend. His mind suddenly travels back to not long ago. Frisk's visit. He met Fergunson, they had bonded. How Frisk seemed amazed at the mere sight of the battalion, a look that could be found in his own face when he first saw this place. It gave Munro the chills to think he was considering to appoint Frisk for the LASPOD course. _You cynical bastard,_ he thinks, a frown forming on his face. _You won't see what's coming at you._ Allowing his frown to disappear, he makes a turn so he's standing face-to-face with with the much younger otter. Despite his best efforts, Alan cannot bring himself to salute the man. His sobs just don't allow it, and it only increases Munro's anger and guilt.

And to a LASPOD operator, those are very dangerous feelings.

Without another thought, he slowly embraces the boy, who wastes no time in throwing his arms around the senior koala's neck as if his life depended on it. The otter's body slowly weights down on the koala, and soon, the two of them are on the ground. Munro restrains himself to allowing the boy to soak his black uniform. He also rubs behind the kid's head, gently shushing him. Given his and Fergunson's closeness, he became a sort of uncle to the boy, so his reaction was understandable.

It's exactly the kind of comfort you'd expect out of a family member. That was about everything behind this gesture. They weren't a Captain and a Sergeant, they were kinsmen. Brothers in profession, with a small difference: Fergunson Jr had an opening to do that. He knew he couldn't do that with whichever operator he found.

"It's alright… Junior, it's gonna be okay…"

"I… I didn't even have a chance to… to say goodbye…"

Munro hugs him tighter when he says that, kindly running his hand behind Alan's head, from his hair down to the collar of his uniform. Gradually, the boy's hold of the senior loosens up, and so he allows his body to lay limp on the man's arms. Munro gives him a few more moments to stay there before pulling away. Alan quickly regains his composure, even looking a bit embarrassed as almost every operator is looking down at the two of them.

"Are you feeling better?" The otter nods, looking down. "Yeah? Then let's get you up. Come on." He stands up, bringing him along.

Alan sniffs, wiping his nose. "Thank you, sir." Munro nods before putting the boy into a headlock, dragging him to the center of the forming crowd. Alan stands still, awkward under the other operators' glances. Munro walks over to the remains of a wall and glues a photograph in it.

"Alexander William Frisk, LAMAOD, badge #3435," he begins, pointing to the picture. "He, on criminals' orders, did this." The Colonel stares at him as every operator present hears intently. "I brought Frisk here," Munro continues, "I showed him around. He met Fergunson, Pete rest his soul." Pausing, he does the cross sign on himself. "And I'm not going to apologize for that, as no existent words are enough to express how sorry I am. There's no changing what I did. It won't bring Fergunson back. I can't change the past, but I can change the future." Some of the operators' ears perk up. "Alan Fergunson was a great man and a brave operator and we're all witnesses of that." Munro then points to the Colonel. "Especially you and me."

The salamander is bearing a stern frown. "What do you want, Belleville?"

"I want a squadron, just one… one squadron to go after these guys and knock!" He punches his own open hand. "Them! Dead!" As he's done, he brushes away the loose strand of hair that had fallen on his eyes as he raged, and stands up straight. "That's what I want, sir."

"Absolutely not."

"Why not?"

"You've been out for four years," the Colonel explains. "I'm not risking your life. Let's not have two operators killed on the same month."

"In '86 we lost four of ours and you know it." The other man's demeanor falters. "Not my point here. I'm not going to die! What, you think thirty years of service go away in four?"

Wright scoffs. "Yeah, right."

"What, do you wanna put me through a shooting under pressure test? Do it, I know I'll pass!"

"What are you getting from this?"

"Revenge." Munro sighs. "Come on, Wright… I was the closest one to Fergunson, along with his own son… I'm experienced, I've taken down entire gangs with my squadron before." He then looks at the man with pleading eyes. "Please, Wright… let me fix my mistake. Erm… make things right," he quickly corrects.

Colonel and Lieutenant Colonel exchange a quick glance before the former turns to Munro once again. "Granted."

The koala salutes. "I will not disappoint you, sir. Permission to assemble a squad?" Wright nods. Munro quickly turns back to the graduated ranks. "Smith, White and Campbell."

"Campbell me?" Rebecca asks, points at herself.

"Yeah, Campbell you. I need a second man-in-charge. Well… woman-in-charge," he chuckles. The girl salutes. He nods, soon turning to the enlisted ranks. "Peterson, Hernández, Müeller, García and Wilson."

An unison "yes, sir!" is heard within the crowd. Munro soon starts walking to the safe house at the bottom of the hill, but soon stops himself. "Oh. And… Fergunson."

"Me, sir?" The young operator asks as the senior walks up to him.

"Yeah, you. Our fallen brother was your father," Munro explains, putting him in a headlock. "It's only fair you are the one who avenges him."

* * *

"Are you okay to walk, sir? You know there is a jeep that can bring us down there," Wilson points out.

Munro, walking ahead of the ground, shakes his head at the request. "Negative. There'll be no jeeps bringing us down." He turns to them. "Jeeps are for the weak. If you can't handle this short walk, go play chess. Back in my day, we'd go up and down this at least thrice a day." He then turns back. "Lieutenant!"

A few moments pass before all operators in the group look at the only woman present, who remains oblivious. At due time, Munro stops himself and the crowd, and eyes her as well. She returns his glance.

"What?" He just points to his side. As if snapping out of a trance, she shakes her head. "Oh yeah!" She quickly trots over as they set into motion once again. "Sorry, Captain. I keep forgetting I actually made it here. It's always been a dream."

"Wrong," Munro retorts, "it's a dream come true! So learn your place and fight for it!"

"Yes, sir."

"Alright! First things first, we will be pulling the file of every Officer, Sergeant, Lieutenant, Captain, Major or Chief who has known affiliation to the bears! Understood?" He looks back at the group.

"Yes, sir!"

"García, Hernández, as our intelligence force, that's your duty."

The two operators reply with an unison "yes, sir!"

"Peterson, Müeller, Wilson, you're be our riflemen. Make sure to get the 20x700 scopes that came in last week."

"Yes, sir!"

A beat passes before another voice speaks up. "Sir, I have a question, sir!"

"Be brief, Sergeant."

"Sir, if you've been out for four years how do you know that, sir!"

"I am out of the LASPOD but the LASPOD isn't out of me," he explains. "I keep in contact with most of our operators. Understood, Sergeant?"

"Sir, yes, sir!"

"Good. White, Smith, Campbell and myself are the attack squadron. Who else here is a strategist?"

"I am, 01," Peterson says, raising his hand.

"You and I will be architecting our attack strategy. Reminding you that this operation in in full stealth mode."

"If you don't mind, sir?" Rebecca asks.

"Brevity is key, Lieutenant."

"About this operation… does it have a name?"

"Not yet. I'll come up with something."

"Alright, sir."


	23. Old Friends and Anticipated Missions

It was another normal day in Los Antelopes, Calatonia. Among its residents, the consensus was that the city never slept. At 5AM, you could already enormous groups of animals roaming the streets, either going to their jobs, the local bakery, or to a quick jog around the neighborhood. But that was before this new trend came from Newt York. It was called crossfit and the city went wild. And if there weren't many animals on the sidewalks before, there were now.

The good thing about crossfit was that it could be done by anyone, at any time, at any age, anywhere. And it was a healthy way to have fun and even bond with other crossfitters. Some groups would even compete with each other, nothing official, just a nice healthy game. Eventually, the group would set a tax to participate, a tax that would later be used to either present the winners with or buy them medals.

Munro was an early bird, always had been. As an operator, you had to be up whenever the mission needed you, regardless if you've been sleeping for ten hours or ten minutes. He brought some of it with him his whole life, so it was no surprise that he loved those marathons. He was particularly fond of joining marathons in which the majority of the competitors were younger than him, not like you could find many men over 50 in a crossfit marathon. Sure, they did practice it, but in a specific group for older ages, one that took it easy on them. But not Munro. He wasn't a man for easy stuff. And he always made sure to subscribe Laura to those marathons too, so they could have some fun together and exercise. She was more on the winning business, but never turned down a challenge. Most of the female competitors were around 20 and she was double that age.

It was amazing that she got 5th place while he got 3rd. All these youngsters running and some even giving up after ten minutes of their jog. Completing the circuit alone was a win. This had been a tough one. But now they were just contently walking home and letting the adrenaline wear down.

"I have got to go back to gym."

"You do that. You know that if you were more fit, you would've bet that salamander and cat easily."

"Next month, love, next month… I'll work out and enter the next marathon. And what about you? In for that challenge?"

"All in. It's been a long time since I last classified in one of those, might as well get back at it."

"Save second place for me, Wonder Koala," he teases, lightly jabbing her side. She just laughs as she pulls him closer.

"Let's not kid ourselves. I can't run faster than you."

"If you do the right amount of training and conditioning, you might."

"Oh, please. You've been doing this since you were twenty, I started when I was thirty."

"You lose bits of it as you get older. In fact, the older you get, the harder it is. I'm not that young anymore."

"And am I, by any chance?" Laura laughs. Munro lightly nods, a smile on his face as he wraps his arm around her and they enter the building, side by side. Soon, they're standing in front of their apartment door.

"Wanna get in the shower first?"

"Nah, I'll go after. I want to check the mail, I'm expecting a letter," Munro explains.

"Alright, love." Laura leans in to kiss his cheek before she goes into their room. He smiles as he goes into the kitchen and starts brewing some coffee. Not much, it wouldn't even fill a mug. It was just the right amount a koala would drink while sorting out a large chunk of paper.

He hates the beginning of each and every month. It's the time in which all bills come in at the same time, there's tons of propaganda being made and it makes him waste an unlawful amount of time sorting things out. That not counting the time he takes to type _every_ bar code in _every_ single bill, because his SFJ Bank app just so generously doesn't scan them correctly! He didn't even used to check, he'd just scan them and throw them aside. Until one month that his light was turned off and $10,000 disappeared from his account. Questioning the light company, he realized he hadn't paid for the last three months of energy. He had to spend three hours on the line at SFJ to sort that out, but it was proven it really wasn't being paid. Questioning about the missing $10,000, the bank replied that the bar code was responsible for the deduction. His light bill was paid, as was his manager's fee, an installment (two, actually) of the truck he had just bought, among other bills, but he never got the $10,000 back.

The experience was bad enough to destroy his confidence in the SFJ Bank's app, so typing every bar code it is.

He keeps the receipts too, just in case.

He almost misses the beep of the coffee machine as it finishes pouring coffee. Munro transfers the steaming liquid to a mug and proceeds to take a large sip. He eyes the pile of papers with a sigh.

"Alright. Let's get this over with," he mutters to himself while grabbing the multitude of envelopes. As he walks to the couch, however, he notices a plain white envelope halfway into the apartment through under the door. Groaning, he moves over, picks it up, promptly throws it in the pile and shuffles it. "Now, let's see. Bill, bill, bill, ad for something I don't care, Laura, Laura, another bill… ad for the campaign of Senator Kevin De Lion— how do these guys find me?!" he asks into thin air, exasperation in his voice. "Why, Pete?!" He throws it aside as he makes a mental note to ask Laura about this guy later. He was never inclined to politics, the opposite of her. And he trusted her enough to vote on whoever she was voting on. The envelope just under that one makes him smile. "Wonder what you're up to now, Rob."

Rob, or Robert Joseph Smith, is a childhood friend of Munro's. He still lived down in Morro Ray, his and Munro's hometown, and the latter always counted on him to be informed about the latest news in the small but charming city. They played in the same basketball team together back when they were 12. Munro's father had been their coach and they had won a school tournament. They've become even closer friends after that event. However, for quite a long time now, Rob had been suffering from a psychological pathology known as EHS, or electromagnetic hypersensitivity. In simpler terms, the cat was allergic to energy. The battery of a cellphone was enough to leave him disoriented, so all phones had to be left out of the animal's house.

Munro had been deeply concerned when he visited Rob a few years ago, after years of not seeing each other. It had been Rob's sister — and now only connection to the outside world — that clued Munro in her brother's health, before kindly requesting that he turned in his phone, lantern and watch. Rob's house was painfully dark, the wooden room being lit by two gas lanterns. _This can't be safe_ , Munro recalls thinking. The porcupine himself was covered by a tin foil blanket — a space blanket, the koala later learned. The purpose, according to Rob himself, was to protect himself from the energy of other people, as well as energy from the air.

He had refused to hug Munro without the blanket between them, and it concerned the koala further. After bidding their goodbyes, they had only been communicating through letters up to this date — letters that always-dutiful Melissa would put in the mail, addressed to her brother's friend. Both of them loved discussing politics — in Munro's case, repeating punchlines from politicians that he had only heard speak once and didn't know a thing about their proposals. It amused Rob. Other than that, they'd talk about the latest changes in law, police cases, law cases, the current wars in Manatee East for petrol, religious views, among other important things. Munro figured that the envelope he now held in his hands contained the reply of the last letter he had sent.

But it wasn't.

The letter contained an internet link and the word 'surprise!' below. The koala stared at the letter, confused for a moment, moments before he grabbed his phone and typed it in.

"Slash one three five, dot com. And go." He clicks on the 'Search' button. To his astonishment, the link shortener expands to become a FaceBull profile page, one with his friend's full name and even a photo on. He smiles in disbelief before sending a friend request. " _Well, well, well, who would've thought?"_ he types into the private messages tab. The reply doesn't take long to come in.

" _How good is my treatment, uh?"_ Munro can practically hear his friend's voice.

" _Congrats, buddy!"_ he replies. " _When are you getting a cellphone?"_

" _One step at a time."_ Munro laughs at the reply before another envelope gets his attention. Turns out that the envelope just below his friend's letter, one that Munro thought it was blank, wasn't. There was no return address, no sender, no address, just the words _M. Belleville_ written in black ink, as if it was delivered straight at his door. It intrigues him. After sending his friend a ' _be right back'_ message, he quickly rips the envelope open in a single move.

The content of the envelope almost makes his heart stop.

There are two photos inside, two photos he's seen before. One was Buster and Ash, and the other was Buster and Laura. The same ones that were in his desk drawer. There were tags on the picture, indicating the animals' full names. Munro could feel his breathing quicken as he frantically scans the envelope for anything else. There is something written on the inside, so he turns it inside out.

The letters are so flawlessly written that it's almost like they are printed on the envelope.

The text was simple, but it got the message across.

_You've been warned._

Munro might've fainted, hadn't he grabbed his gun and sprung out the door. He runs down the six flights of stairs in the blink of an eye, and then to the outside of the building, his gun secured in its concealed holster, shielded from curious looks. He looks to both sides of the sidewalk madly, earning himself either weirded out or frightened looks from passersby, before realizing that, whoever had dropped the letter at his house, must be on the other side of town by now. Casually, he moves towards the building once again, pressing himself against the door as it shuts behind him. He takes quick breaths prior to picking up his phone and typing a number.

"Yeah, Rebecca Campbell, please. It's Munro Belleville." A beat passes. "02, we have a situation. We need to anticipate the mission."

* * *

"In a week, that would be my best guess."

The leader bear stares at the minuscule hamster in front of him before resting back on his chair with a sigh. "Alright, Jones." He then nods at his sidekick, who nods back and goes to leave the room.

"Before you send someone to kill Belleville right now, hear me out." All three bears redirect their attention to her.

"I'm listening," Koslov says.

"After what Frisk did, killing Munro is a risky move, not to mention the immediate risk attached to it."

"Immediate risk?"

"Belleville reacting and killing whoever you send to kill him off."

Koslov scoffs. "Pfft. _That_ guy? He can't run 50 feet anymore."

"Maybe he can't, maybe he can, but with all due respect, sir, I know better than to underestimate Belleville."

The bear nods. "So what do you suggest?"

"I think that both our problem and our solution has the same name: Frisk."

"What about him?"

"Belleville trusts him. Well… not entirely, but it's not like the guy trusts anyone out of the LASPOD entirely. But he trusts him enough to make this work."

"Not following," Petrovich chimes in.

"Frisk could dissuade him from this idea if he words it correctly. Might as well be… his last task, if you know what I mean."

The bears exchange satisfied glances and smiles before Koslov extends his enormous paw towards the smaller animal.

"Alright, Jones. We'll do it your way."

* * *

"Where did you go, are you okay?"

"Huh? Oh… yeah, I… I'm fine. Everything's fine. There was a small erm… _doubt_ surrounding a mission, and I went down there to clear everything up."

"I got worried about you. Why didn't you bring your phone?"

"I left it charging, it was almost dead. Sorry, okay?"

Laura sighs, smiling at him. "Alright. Are you okay, though? You look like you've seen a ghost."

"What? No, no, I'm fine. It was just an… an emergency down at the battalion, that's all."

"An emergency?"

"Yeah, there was this… new equipment, yeah, that they didn't know how to use on a mission, and I helped. No big deal." She eyes him with suspicion, to which he casually leans back into a table. "Is that shirt new?"

Laura looks down at the _Metalpaca_ shirt she has on. "Yeah, it is. Ash bought it as a gift for me. Do you like it?" she inquires, standing in an upright position.

"I do, mean it! It suits you just fine… not like that's a hard task," he jokes. Laura just laughs, so he sees an in. "But hey, I have to get Moon's statement again."

"Why?" She frowns for a moment before being struck with realization. "Oh, right, after the LASPOD thing."

"Yeah," both Munro's tone and expression turn somber. "I wanna make it right for Fergie."

"I understand. Well… I could always go with you. It's been a while since we last met up with everybody."

"Good! I'm just gonna grab my keys and we go."

"Alright." Moving towards the door, Laura recalls an inquisition Ash had made the day prior. "Mun!"

"Yeah?"

"What about the lawyer?" she asks, stepping in the direction of the sound.

"The… lawyer?" he repeats, walking out. "What lawyer?"

"You know, the lawyer you told Johnny about. The one who'll defend his father and company."

"Ohh, that lawyer. What about him?" He walks ahead, holding the door open for her.

"Is he really coming? You know the parole hearing is tomorrow."

"He'll be here. Do you remember Rob?"

"The guy with the electricity problem? Munro, he doesn't get out of the house! Plus, isn't he retired?" she inquires, walking out the door.

"No, he's on _medical leave_. Difference. He's getting treated and he seems pretty fine to me! Besides, I asked him to come and he told me he will. He wants to get back to practicing and thinks this case might be it. And it'll be good for Johnny's dad's gang to have Rob at the hearing. Elliott knows him, they'll be paroled in no time. Okay?"

Laura sighs. "Okay. Just confirm with him and let Johnny know. By what Ash told me, the poor boy is freaking out." Munro nods, finally walking out the door. She quickly puts an arm in front of him. "Oh, and Mun?"

"Yeah, love?"

She kisses his cheek. "You know you can tell me when you're in trouble. Now why don't we talk about whatever's concerning you..?"


	24. Takeouts and Beatings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: SANTA CLAUS ARRIVED EARLY THIS YEAR– no, really, it's just the last update of 2018. XD I really hope you enjoy this.
> 
> Warning: Graphic depiction of violence towards the ending.

"And there's the Moon, shining bright in the military hospital!"

The bedridden koala laughs, pointing at himself. "That's me."

Munro climbs up the chair, greeting his friend with a pat on the shoulder. "It's good to see ya, buddy. Ash."

"Hey, Munro."

"Oh! Ash, is Johnny around? I really gotta talk to him."

"Uh… yeah, he's getting us some chips just down the hall."

"Great. I'll be right back!" With that, he jumps off the chair and runs outside of the room, just as Laura walks in.

"Hey, you guys!"

"Laura! Hey, what's up?" Ash asks, climbing down and hugging the woman.

"Oh, not much. Munro needs to collect all of your statements again, as you already know, so I figured I'd drop by to... say hello and just hang out until my shift starts."

"I thought you had been fired after you booked us that room for free," Buster asks.

"Well… yeah, I was. But who told you my shift is in a restaurant?" she half-asks, a cheeky smile plastered on her face.

Buster frowns at her. "W-well, then… what?"

"Oh, nothing big. Just thought I'd put that engineering degree to good use."

Buster's eyes double in size with surprise. "Shut up."

"No can't do, it's already out there!" she laughs.

"Get in here and give me a hug, then!" Laura quickly does as told, bringing the bedridden koala into her arms. "Oof!"

"Sorry!"

"Nah, it's–" he stops mid-sentence to cough. "Fine. That's great, Laura! I'm really happy for you."

"Thank you," she sing-songs as she gets a hug from Ash also.

"Dude, that's like... awesome! And I've been meaning to ask you since that night why is it that you weren't practicing," Ash informs.

"Oh. Yeah, some things got in the way before, but finally, _finally_ I got a stable job. and I'm constructing this really cool building! I can't... well, the guy who asked for it was really eccentric, the shape of it is a mix between that of a lion and the Emparrot State Building. It's crazy. I-it... it's crazy," she laughs. "I can show you the blueprint, if you want. I just don't have it on me right on."

"Oh, sure! Sounds interesting."

"And by that description, even funny," the other koala follows suit with a small giggle. "That's really good, Laura. Really good."

"Thanks, Moon. But hey, enough about me. How are you doing?"

"Oh, getting better with each passing day. Hey, did you know I'm gonna be released tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow, that's great!"

Ash nods. "It really is!"

"But hey, it doesn't mean I'm 100% just yet. I'll still need crutches or even a wheelchair to move around because of my leg, plus I won't be able to do much effort for a while. I should probably get someone to run the theatre meanwhile."

"Or you could just get an assistant," Laura suggests. "I mean… not loathing on Ms Crawly, but I think that all the tasks you perform would be too much for her."

"And I wouldn't want to overload her with those, either," Buster agrees. "Huh. An assistant… might be a good idea."

"Yeah, Moon, it is!" Ash confirms. "Plus, assistants are a fancy people thing, it's gonna be fun!"

Both koalas almost snort laughing at that. "Now where did you come up with that, love?" Buster asks, bringing her close to him.

"Hey, Laura's fancy and she had an assistant at the bar and restaurant."

"I didn't, really," the woman says, resting her handbag against the enormous chair. "I was the bar section manager, so I was the boss to some employees there. Just now, at the firm, that I got an assistant. His name's Ben, he's a sweetheart, not your type, Moon," she jokes.

"Noted," he replies, a fake bored tone in his voice. The woman just lets out an amused chuckle.

"And let me tell you, having an assistant is great. They bring coffee, take most calls for you, organize your schedule… you can focus only on what has to be done."

"Assistants are babysitters for adults," he jokes, making both women laugh. "Yeah. An assistant. It's growing on me."

"I'm back and I brought a monkey with me!" Munro calls out, poking Johnny's leg as they walk in.

"You're the monkey, you marsupial," Johnny says, fakely hurting as he laughs. "I brought those chips you wanted, Ash," he finishes, passing her a bag.

"Thanks, man," she replies, already opening the bag and grabbing a handful of chips to herself. "Anyone wants some?"

An almost unyson "nah, we're good" is the reply. Following suit, Johnny gives Moon his own bag before sitting down at the couch.

"Alright, now that it's a reunion… do you think perhaps we could get the rest of the crew here to make like a testimony feast?"

"Explain to me again why do you need me to testify one more time?"

"Because Frisk exploded the LASPOD's evidence room and your testimony was lost in it," he's hardly done explaining when his phone rings. An unknown number. He quickly picks it up. "Hello?"

_"Hello, I'd like to speak to Murno Belleville, please."_

"Murno or Munro?" The animals in the room laugh and he briefly follows suit.

Typing can be heard on the other side. _"Oh, right! Terribly sorry, Mr Belleville."_

"It's alright, my name can be tricky. So what can I do for you?"

_"I'm calling on behalf of Calatonia Surveillance Systems to update you on your request of access to the images recorded in 551 Echo Drive Street."_

Munro frowns. "Yeah, you called me already. Said the images weren't in your possession."

This is the woman's turn to pause. More typing. _"Erm… no, sir, the images are being sent to your email as we talk. Usually our images are encrypted, but we're always help to decode them to help police."_

"I'm telling you that the company called me and told the images weren't in its possession."

_"There's no register of a prior phone call being made to your phone, Mr Belleville."_

"Yeah, that's because it wasn't made to my cell phone, you called my house."

_"What's the number?"_

"213-455-3708."

Silence ensues as the woman types once again. _"Hmm… no, Mr Belleville, no phone calls were made to that phone either."_

"Then, what was–" he stops mid-sentence, finally realizing what that meant. "Thank you, miss. I really appreciate it. Is there an estimation of when I'll receive the images?"

_"They should be arriving at your email in a few minutes, Mr Belleville. Is there anything else I can help you with?"_

"No, nothing at all. Thank you again, miss."

_"Calatonia Surveillance Systems thanks you for your time and trust and wishes you a good day."_

Munro slides the phone back into his pocket like the world stopped revolving around him. _You son of a… you'll get what's coming at you._

"Who was it?" Laura asks.

"Calatonia Surveillance Systems."

"Again? What did they want?"

"Oh, nothing. The images from the theatre are being sent to my phone as we speak."

Laura makes a confused face at that. "But hadn't they called you saying that they didn't–"

"It was a fake phone call, Laura. All of it was fake."

"How so?"

"Frisk's smarter than I thought."

* * *

"Okay, I guess this'll do!" Munro says. He then leans into the table and presses the off button of his recorder. "Ah. Finally. This here is enough evidence to lock up those bears for good."

The crew ahead of him either nod or let out breaths in relief, namely Buster and Ash. Other than Rosita and Nana, everyone who had been in the flood was present. Munro had been confused by the pig's complete lack of collaboration, but a brief explanation from Buster and Ash made him understand what was happening clearly. Rosita wouldn't help him because he knew about their relationship and wouldn't arrest Buster. Huh. Seemed fair to him. He then made sure, of course, of profusely apologizing to the couple for the damage his words caused. Both had said it was no big deal and that they knew that something like that would happen sooner or later.

"At least let me buy us all some dinner to make up for that."

"Really, buddy, there's no need. There was no way you could've predicted Rosita was here when you came in to talk to Ash."

"I shouldn't have predicted anything, I should've seen her. She's almost three times my size!"

"Munro, really," Ash intervenes. "We both knew that hate would start as soon as someone found out."

"Still wanna pay dinner." He pulls out his phone. "What are you two fancying? We'll follow suit," he assures, shooting his fiancée a glance. Laura merely chuckles.

Buster sighs. "Alright then, you win. But how are you bringing the food in here without the nurses knowing?"

"The same way my friends used to sneak food in whenever one of us got shot, through the window," he points to it. "Just throw a rope tied to a wooden piece outside and pull the food up."

"Or we can just say it's for the three of us," Laura suggests.

"Nah, that'll make them look over at us every minute. My way is way easier," he says with a cheeky grin. "So, this new Moroccanis restaurant just opened on the other side of town, and I thought we could give it a go. It sounds really good."

"I haven't eaten takeout food in weeks, I'm up to anything," Buster informs.

"Yeah, I'm up to anything as well. Let's try the Moroccanis food," Ash agrees.

"Moroccanis food is far from being my favorite, but it's worth a shot!"

"All right! Let me call them up."

"Remind me to teach both of you how to use Ubear Eats later, too," Ash comments.

"What's that?" Laura asks.

"The best food ordering app in the world. Neither of you will ever make a phone call to a restaurant again."

"Can't wait! Oh, hello, is this Salah's Food and Bar?"

* * *

"Great restaurant."

"Yeah, totally approved."

"Totally," Laura repeats. "Even I liked it."

"Then I'm a lost vote," Munro laughs. "I think it's not all that."

"I mean, it's far from the best food I've ever tried," Ash speaks up, "but it was a pleasant surprise!"

"Yes," Buster agrees. He then lifts his cup, clinking it with his friend's. "Thanks for insisting."

The four laugh as a quiet knock is heard. Soon after, the door is thrown open and an otter struts in. One otter that Munro knows well. One otter that, no more than five days prior, he had considered a brother.

"Heeey, you three! The nurse let me in, I should've made more noise, I'm sorry," he says, moving over to the chairs in which the two couples had been eating in. "And I brought everyone some coffee! Moon I already know that likes coffee with cream," he begins, passing the koala his cup. "Ash, I deduced it would be black. Is that right?"

"Uhh… yeah, man. Thanks." She then takes her own cup, sipping on it.

"Welcome. Some coffee with sweetener for Laura," he extends the cup to her. She warily takes it. "And coffee with cream for you, Captain," he finishes, extending him a cup. Munro, however, doesn't take it. He doesn't even move, his muscled frigid with bottled up anger. He stares at the man, who then retreats. "You're... lactose intolerant, aren't you? Ack, sorry. Somehow, I mixed it with a gluten allergy..." he starts again, walking over to a trash can.

Munro can feel his body slowly start to shake, shake in anger and rage. How dared this man – the man who had been lying to him for Pete knows how long and who had recently put his family in danger – walk in here and treat them like _friends._ Before he can think about anything, he's following the otter.

"So when I went to pick up the coffee, I did–" Frisk's stopped by a swift punch on the nose that sends him stumbling into the ground. "Captain, what the hell?!" he asks, holding his nose in pain.

"Munro, don't," Laura begins, quickly moving over and putting a hand on her fiancé's shoulder.

He, however, moves her hand away as he closes the distance between him and the otter once again, and kneels down to punch him. "You son of a dog! You worthless piece of–" he then grabs the man by the lapels of his shirt. Frisk tries holding him, but to no avail. "You gave them my wife's name?! My friends' too?! How could you?! I trusted you!" All the while, he repeatedly punched the otter in the face.

"Quit it!"

"The thing with the images too, how did you fake that?! How did you and freaking Jones faked that?!" He pushes the man back to the ground.

"Ah! Stop it, it wasn't–"

"You killed Fergunson! You put Buster in this hospital and now you gave them a green card to murder my family!"

"Captain, stop it! Someone help!"

"You get the hell up!" Munro then snatches him from the ground, his face with small drops of blood that had been forcefully taken from the otter. "I'll tell you something, Frisk, and I'll tell you only once! If you ever come near me, or Laura, or _**anyone**_ from that theatre or the LASPOD again, I swear in the name of everything that's holy that I'm going to murder you, now do you understand me?!" He gets dangerously close to the otter who was now clinging onto his shirt. Frisk nods, bruised and terrified. Munro then releases him, pushing him into a wall. The otter soon takes off, running outside of the room.

Munro comes near the trio once again, panting. Both Buster and Ash are scared, staring right at him. Laura's expression, however, he can't read. Finally, when his blood pressure lowers, he grabs a couple tissues, quickly washing the blood out of his face and hands.

"What the hell were you thinking, Munro?"

"I don't know, okay? I wasn't," he replies, wrapping his bruised hand in a bandage.

"You just gave them one more reason to come after you! Plus, whatever is with the story of us being in danger?"

Munro looks up. _No, no, no, no_. Once again, his mouth had gotten the best out of him. He sighs. "Remember earlier today, when I told you I had went to the battalion to sort something out?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"I didn't– I didn't sort anything out. Earlier today, I got a letter that was delivered straight to our door. It had two pictures inside, pictures I remember seeing in Moon's office at the theatre. One was you and Buster, and the other was Buster and Ash. Your full names were written on the picture and in the envelope it said 'you have been warned'. So the real reason of my trip was to anticipate the mission. Get them before they get us."

"You told me gangs didn't come after folks from your branch. What–"

"Well, I was _wrong_ , okay, Laura? I was wrong about all of it. Crooks don't care about which branch you are… they come after you and that's that." He then turns to the younger couple. "And sorry about my fit of anger back there. I shouldn't have done that."

"It's alright. I can't imagine how you feel, knowing that Frisk's the reason we and your family are in danger right now," Buster says. "Do you feel better, now?"

Finishing up with the bandages, he looks up at the man. "Yeah, Moon. I feel better."

* * *

"Baby, I'm home!" Aspen calls out, walking inside the kitchen and resting several paper bags on the counter. "I bought fish sticks for dinner! How do fish sticks with fried potatoes sound li– Ah!" she screams at the sight of her husband. "F-Frisk, honey..." she moves closer to him, lightly touching his face. "What happened to you?!"

"Munro–" he coughs out. "Munro happened to me."

Aspen takes a moment to recognize the name. "The LASPOD guy? Why would he do this?!"

"It doesn't matter, love, it really doesn't. Let's just have dinner."

"Frisk… you have to report this to the Chief! He can't go out hitting officers just because he's in a higher level!"

"That's not– that wasn't really the reason, baby, don't worry about this, okay?" His slacked demeanor falters when he sees his wife's eyes filling up with tears. "Oh, baby, don't..." He moves closer, gently wiping her tears with his thumbs as he smiles the best he can.

"I don't want you to die!" she cries out, hugging him close.

Her words strike Frisk in a different way. Die? Would Munro really kill him? "Do you think he'd kill me?" he asks, pulling away slightly.

"Without thinking twice," is her reply she gives him. "Didn't you tell me yourself that their branch was ruthless and violent? Without mentioning trained. He'd kill you in two seconds…"

Frisk grows concerned as he hugs his wife. She did have a point. The LASPOD was known for having a strict no tolerance with crooks policy, but would Munro… _kill him?_ His mind suddenly wanders back to earlier that night. Those punches. His cries for mercy meeting an iron fist and being disregarded. Munro had literally done all that… _in front of his friends and family._ He gulps. What would he have done if _no one was watching?_

"Frisk?"

"U-uh..?" he replies, a bit air-headed. "Oh. I'm fine, love, really."

"Okay." She pecks his lips before pulling away. "Just… be safe, okay, baby?"

"Yeah… okay, honey. I think… I think I know what to do."

* * *

It was a great night for the Roxy Nightclub. And why wouldn't it be? It was the most famous nightclub in town, and it was rarely not crowded. Koslov Nikolaev Carmichael and his brothers were enjoying it thoroughly, as they had made about $10,000 bucks just until this point and, as the saying went, "night's young."

"And there we go," he begins, showing his opponent a Straight Flush. "You lose. Pay up, monkey boy," he finishes, his accent thick as he looks at the baboon ahead of him.

The baboon, no older than 25 or 26, leaves his money on the table as he walks out.

"One more great game, huh, boss?" Dmitri says.

"Yes. But as they say in Americat, night's young," he says, grinning madly. "Can't wait for the next one.

With that, Petrovich's phone rings.

"'Ey Petro, what did we tell you about leaving that nasty thing on while we're on the club? What if it's a cop?"

"It's not a cop. I mean… not one that doesn't work for us." He then shows Koslov the phone.

"Frisk. What the hell does he want?"

Petrovich shrugs as he answers. "What, Frisk?"

_"Petrovich, hello. Can you please pass the phone to the boss?"_

The bear does as told, passing the phone to Koslov. "What, Frisk? Didn't I tell you to wait for our contact?"

_"You can kill him."_

"What?"

_"You can kill him."_

"Him who?"

_"Munro Belleville."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: There we go! If you like the chapter, please drop a review. :)


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